Chloroform
by ange1banange1
Summary: ""Beth?" Maggie gasped from behind a pew at the front of the sanctuary." Daryl and Carol rescue Beth from the hospital, but they soon learn how drastically people can change when they are faced with difficult trials.
1. Chapter 1

...

"Beth?" Maggie gasped from behind a pew at the front of the sanctuary.

Daryl had a gentle hand wrapped around the blonde's upper as they stood in the open doorway to the little church. That's something that he had been doing quite a lot of for the past couple of hours. When Carol and he had found the fenced clinic hidden in the overgrowth of Atlanta, the knots in Daryl's stomach coiled. It was bleak, like every building had become at the hands of the rising corpses of the apocalypse. The dirt road was stained in some spots – the suggestion of blood – and the barbed fence clung to old scraps of walker flesh. But the grounds were void of the creatures. _Quite a clean-up crew they've got_, Daryl thought cynically.

A tug on the sleeve from Carol immediately alerted him. She motioned for him to look across the way. From the tree line, they watched through a window as two men dressed as doctors tugged a wriggling, golden-haired girl out of an adjacent room. Beth was fighting like a damn champ, the archer noticed, almost smiling with pride. He had taught her well; or rather, she had actually listened. She kicked and yelled and spit like a wild animal. She actually got a few good punches on the men before they restrained her arms again. Suddenly, Daryl saw one of the bastards backhanded her. Daryl launched forward at the sight, only to be stopped by Carol.

"Wait," she whispered. "We need a game plan before you go barging in."

"But they got 'er!" Daryl hissed. Any other words he had been ready to say died on his tongue when a third man the duo hadn't seen – this one dressed in a cop uniform – put a cloth over Beth's nose and mouth. She fought for a few good seconds before she slumped in the doctors' arms. It took all of Carol's strength to hold the angry Dixon back by his chest and forearm as the men loaded the girl onto a gurney. When he had calmed down enough to think clearly, he managed to growl out a rugged, "What's the plan?"

Carol led him through a cracked window, following the general direction of the doctors. What they found on the way was a row of metal-platted doors; rooms swimming with walkers. Someone was collecting them. They finally found the room where they had taken Beth, but when they took a look inside, Daryl's stomach almost emptied on the spot. They had her strapped to a surgical bed, an IV stuck in her collarbone. She had dried blood on her face and in her hair, and bruises splattered across all the skin exposed. Her right arm was in a bulky cast as well. Carol pulled his attention from Beth and toward a chained up walker, snarling in the blonde's direction. A long chain connected to the creature's neck disappeared into another room and out of sight.

As if Daryl's heart could take anymore, the chain slackened just a bit, allowing the walker to take a step toward Beth. Before Carol could stop him, he was kicking down the door, bullets flying at the monster as he quickly took it down. A handful of doctors and cops jumped out from the back room to stop him, shouting at him, only to be shot down by a viciously angry Daryl and eventually Carol. A woman in a police uniform was screaming at him to _stop or they would use force_, as if the old ways of the world were still effective, but a swift shot to the head shut her up. Carol's shot. Daryl didn't bother to thank her as he ran to Beth's side, quickly cutting her bounds and ripping out the IV.

"Beth?" Daryl whispered under his breath. He knew she wouldn't be able to hear him, but just maybe saying her name made it real that she was here, alive. Touching the side of her neck, the pulse of her life beat against his fingers and he couldn't hold back the shaky breath he had been holding since the church days ago. His gaze flitted over her face and its damage. He stroked some hair back out of her face, and his fingers coming back faintly red with blood.

"We need to go, right now," Carol said. "If there are others, they would have heard the shots."

"Alright. Let's go." Daryl lifted the unconscious girl into his arms and followed Carol out the door, doing his best to ignore the comfortingly familiar weight of Beth in his arms. The older woman covered them when they crossed paths with a few people, but soon took under the cover of dense forest as the hospital descended into chaos.

They were halfway back to the car they hid on the other side of the woods before Carol slowed down to catch her breath. Daryl had been so caught up in reaching safety he hadn't noticed how tired he was. Beth was far lighter than she had been at the mortuary what seems like long ago, but she was still unconscious against him. He made to lay Beth down in the grass, Carol taking off her jacket for a makeshift pillow. She looked over Beth's most obvious wounds, speaking aloud. "She's got a pretty deep scar here, by her temple and one on her cheekbone that's healing a bit, but if they didn't clean it enough it could easily be infected. At least they had enough sense to put a cast on her and stitch up this one cut. Feels like she might have a fractured rib or two. She's pretty dehydrated, as well. Dammit, look at all these bruises…" she murmured, but Daryl heard and had to turn away. He heard a ruffling of fabric as Carol continued talking to herself. "Her ankle is wrapped, but it's dirty and old-"

"That was me," Daryl interjected quietly as he sat at the base of the nearest tree. "She sprained her ankle in a bear trap while I was teachin' her t'hunt."

"You were teaching her?"

Daryl only hummed a response. His threaded fingers were clenched so tightly he was sure he would break his own knuckles. He pressed them to his forehead as a dull ache built.

"There was a stream pretty close. I'm going to get her some water; clean her up and make sure she has something to drink when she wakes up." And with that, her footsteps lead off into the woods. Finally, Daryl turned around to examine his young friend. Yes…_friend_, he thought confidently. He gently sat a Beth's side, itching to see that hopeful smile of hers. Instead, he barely touched the knuckle of her little finger, if only to feel the warmth of life still running through her veins.

Suddenly her eyes burst open, a ragged, heavy gasp ripping out of her throat. She leapt toward Daryl, wrapping strong hands around his neck until he was on his back with her straddling his chest with a wild look in her eyes. She was practically snarling at him, her teeth barred like a wolf. "Beth! Beth, look at me-" A squeeze of her fingers made him pause. "It's me! It's Daryl! Remember? Just look!"

It was Beth's turn to pause, but not necessarily out of recognition. Her eyes unfocused and rolled until her eyes were shut once again. She slumped into the crook of Daryl's arm, saving her already damaged head from hitting the forest floor. The man sighed, defeated. This wasn't the Beth he remembered. The sweet, unyielding, innocent girl with golden hair and a smile that could turn back the clock on the apocalypse was gone, and it was his fault.

Not long after, Carol returned with a full bottle of water with a concerned look in her eye at seeing that Beth had moved from her original resting place. Daryl was laying her back down on the jacket-pillow when she decided to ask, "Did she wake up?"

"She woke up, alright. Don't know if she was thinkin' straight yet," He mumbled.

"What happened?" Carol prodded.

"She pounced on me. Tried to strangle me before she passed out." Daryl looked up in time to see the corner of his companion's mouth twitching, as if she was trying not to laugh. "What?" Carol let loose a suppressed chuckle that she couldn't hold back. "Are ya seriously laughin' right now?"

"I'm sorry, I just would have paid big money to see big, bad Daryl Dixon get taken down by little Bethy Greene." She motioned for him to hand her his rag so as to clean her wounds.

…

It was nighttime before they knew it, and Beth was still asleep as the fire burned. Carol had carefully washed the blood around her most serious injuries and did her best with her hair. The cuts on her face were as bad as they had originally looked and it boiled Daryl's blood. Someone had beat the shit out of Beth and she would forever have the scars to remind her. He reflected to his own scars, the thick, dark ones that his father had given him long ago. On good days, he was able to forget that they existed and he can just move forward to a future. On others, he felt as if he was walking forward but moving backward, back to those dark days of glass, fire, booze, and the cracking sound of a belt. _I never would've wanted this for you,_ Daryl focused his thoughts toward the resting Greene sister, wishing she could hear it. Beth and Judith; that was where he had put his heart most. The most precious creatures left on the Earth, and one had been tainted by cruelty bred by the fall of humanity.

"What happened between you two?" Carol suddenly asked. Daryl looked up from the blonde to stare at the elder woman incredulously. "Back at the prison, you barely noticed her. You two would rarely cross paths." She paused to form her words. "You seem different, Daryl."

"How d'ya mean?"

She gazed at him deeply. "You're talking. More than I've ever heard you talk. You told me… what I did… I can start over and be okay."

"Ya can, ya know?"

"But you-" A sleepy grumble from Beth's direction stopped Carol from continuing, but Daryl didn't seem to mind with the way he flew to the girl's side.

"Beth? Relax, alright?" He said gently. Beth lurched upright upon hearing his voice, eyes wide. "Hey, hey! Take it easy. You're safe." Her gaze fluttered over her surroundings in the dark thicket of trees and the fire a few feet from her. Finally she saw that she had company, and it was familiar company.

"Carol?" Her eyes shined looking at her once-mother figure. And finally… "Daryl." There was no question. He was here. Not a dream this time. The man's mouth twitched with the hint of a smile at the sound of his name on her tongue. Her hand went to touch his cheek, when a soft crack from the flames set sparks flying into the air. Her fingers changed course and clutched at her head as she moaned. "Ugh, my head." Before either of her rescuers could offer her anything, she shushed them, saying, "It's okay. It was really bad when they first knocked me out, but I'm used to it by now."

"'First'?" Daryl narrowed his eyes. "How many-"

"Never mind that now," Carol stopped him, gently touching Beth's shoulder. The man didn't miss the slight shudder of her skin at being touched. Now, didn't that look familiar… "I need to know if you have any other injuries."

"Concussion, two fractured ribs, sprained ankle, broken arm, and I had a dislocated shoulder but they put it back in. Still hurts like a bitch." She listed off her wounds in a monotone voice that didn't sound like her at all. She added, "Oh and I assume you've seen my face."

God, Daryl was ready to explode. He was beyond ready to charge back into that hospital and kill every last one of those fuckers, let them turn and then kill them a second time. He didn't know what happened – and Beth would have to explain that to him later – but just the fact that she wasn't returned to him unscathed and unchanged made his skin crawl. He had to pace for a bit, regain his stationary calm. Getting up from the ground, he wandered between the trees, running his fingers through his hair, trying not to go punching bark.

"Alright, I can help with that," Carol said. "Now we need to get you back to camp-"

"We should rest for tonight. Leave tomorrow mornin'," Daryl suggested. "She just got outta there. I don't think she'll like bein' swarmed by everyone."

Beth's lips parted, as if to ask about "everyone" but she stayed silent. That night Daryl took watch from the other side of the tree where Beth and Carol lay sleeping. As if the archer could possibly sleep after the day he'd had. Yes, he was thrilled to see Beth alive – he knew she was alive – but this Beth… this Beth was different. Just as Carol was different. He supposed the apocalypse made them all cold as stone eventually. He just hadn't wanted to imagine that it would happen to her.

Soft footfalls alerted him at first, but he allowed his guest to sit beside him on the tree-root watchtower. Beth's blonde hair was down, long strands hiding her face from him, but he would always know it was her. All that time alone with her before she was taken tuned his senses to her; a familiarity that went as deep as feeling her presence in absolute darkness.

She didn't say a word, at first. She wanted him to speak first, which he complied by saying, "You should be sleeping."

"Can't sleep," she said. "Haven't slept right since the funeral home." She looked down, remembering the frequent drugging of her captors. "Not willingly anyway."

"You're safe now. You can rest easy," he grumbled.

She sighed, "Can't be sure that this isn't a drug-enduced dream. Can't be sure you're actually here."

Daryl finally looked over to her waterfall of hair, suddenly confident. His hand slowly reached for the apex of her locks, pausing when she jumped in surprise. Carefully, he brushed her hair back behind her ear, until he could see her face. Her scars. Her bruises. Her cold, wary eyes. "_You're_ here… so I'm here."

Something changes in her gaze and not for the better. Daryl momentarily thought it was shame, but it was too quickly gone for him to know for sure. She tipped her head down, and her hair fell forward again. For a long time, she was quiet. A tense, heavy silence fell over them, worse than any other silence they had ever shared. It continued until he couldn't take it anymore.

"I missed you," he whispered so breathily she almost didn't hear it.

She smiled to herself from behind the shadow of her hair. The smile felt so foreign to her mouth that it stretched in protest. She leaned toward him until their arms were touching in the dark. "I knew you would."

…

When light poured over them the next morning, they continued the trek back to Gabriel's church. Carol took the lead, figuring the other two had many things to talk about. The older woman knew about the Daryl Dixon language – speaking with eye twitches and nudging elbows. Hell, she was fluent back at the prison! But now, the silence emanating from the lagging pair was absolutely defining. The tables had turned. Normally-silent Daryl was itching to ask Beth all the questions he had, but Beth was not having it. It was almost comical to Carol to imagine Daryl fidgeting like a dog to speak to his once-talkative companion.

"Mr. Dixon, please stop looking at me like that. I don't want to talk about it. Not yet," Beth scolded him. Carol almost released a laugh.

"Alright, alright," he sighed. A little, pale hand grasped his forearm then, stopping him from moving any farther. She had stopped walking, waited until Carol was out of earshot to continue. "What is it?"

"Look, I…" she started, forming her words carefully. "I need you to be patient with me. I'm not the same person as before, and-"

"Beth," he stopped her. "I get it. I know. Ya don't gotta explain yourself to me. I only want ya safe."

She went quiet again. She could see a sliver of a white-sided church in the distance. "Is Maggie in there?"

"Yeah. Almost everyone's in there."

"I don't want to see her." She said suddenly, taking him off-guard. He didn't ask why, only nodded. The two of them caught up with Carol at the edge of the clearing. It wasn't until they had reached the main door that Beth noticed her stomach doing somersaults inside her. Daryl could feel her anxiety rising off of her like heat off a car, but knew this new Beth would face it head-on. Carol nodded and pushed open the creaking door.

At first, only Gabriel and Tyreese turned their heads at the sound, but before long, everyone was staring. Maggie slowly stood up from her seat, eyes like planets and brimming with happy tears. Daryl cursed in his head at the thought of not being able to do what Beth asked of him earlier, but what could he do now? "Bethy!" She sped down the aisle to attack Beth with hugs, Daryl trying to slow her down.

"Maggie, wait. Just hold on a second," he held his hands out to get her attention, but it didn't deter the eldest Greene girl. Before she could even touch Beth, the blonde's left arm flew out and clapped against her sister's cheek. The slap echoed throughout the sanctuary and made someone gasp.

As Maggie nursed her bruising cheek, Beth's hooded eyes stared her down. "I saw the signs, Maggie."

The sisters met each other's eyes and it became a contest – who would look away first. Daryl knew Beth would never back down from this. Beth's eyes had never looked colder, looking hard at Maggie's terrified ones.

Rick carefully walked up behind the shorter girl, wrapping a delicate arm around her shoulders. Daryl didn't miss the tiniest twitch of her finger at being touched, but again, he turned a blind eye to it for the time being. "C'mon, Beth," he began to lead her away. "Let's go see Judith." She kept her stony glare on her older sister until Maggie couldn't take it anymore and looked away. Rick and Beth disappeared into the back room where Rick had set up the baby to sleep. Those once happy tears in Maggie's eyes gave way to heavy sorrow. Glenn was at her side in a minute, pulling her into his embrace, shushing her cries.

Daryl was the first to speak. "What is she talkin' about 'signs'?"

Maggie couldn't form her words, so Glenn answered for her, "The signs for Terminus. Maggie and I were separated, so she wrote my name on any signs she passed for me to go to Terminus and meet her there." He added softer this time, "She didn't know Beth was alive."

"Ya mean _'think'_." Daryl's anger level was rising again. "Ya didn't _think_ she was alive. I'm guessing ya thought she was _too weak_ to make it outta the prison-"

"That's not true!" Maggie cried. "The bus- she was supposed to get on the bus! That's what I told her to do-"

"She went back to get the kids, 'cause _you_ had to run off looking for yer goddamn husband instead of followin' the fuckin' plan!"

"I found the bus after we got out! It was full of walkers! Everyone on that bus was dead! What was I supposed to do?!"

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE FAITH IN HER!" Daryl screamed in her face. He panted and paced like a tiger about to attack. "She looked for you, ya know. She knew everyone was alive somewhere. We went on a _wild goose chase_ looking for yer sorry ass! And she had to find out that ya didn't give a shit about her to begin with!" He stalked her like prey he wanted to tear apart in the most vicious way. She continued to struggle for air through her tears as he collected his furious thoughts. "Ya know what's funny? Merle never stopped lookin' for me. And I never stopped believin' he was out there. He may have been a shit brother, but he never really gave up on lookin' for me."

He leaned in close to whisper one last remark, "How's it feel t'know that even Merle Dixon was a better person than you?" and with that, he stalked off to find Beth. Maggie's eyes squeezed shut as she collapsed to her knees. Glenn continued to stand, mulling over Daryl's tangent with a sad look on his face. No, not just sad. Guilt.

…

Rick shut the door behind Beth, giving her an appropriate amount of privacy with his little girl. Beth's eyes were still hard, which unsettled the older man, but he knew better than anyone how people can change in this new world. Judith wriggled in her makeshift crib, which was only a deep-set sink with layers and layers of blankets and a small pillow. She had grown significantly since Beth had last seen the infant, but she seemed to recognize her primary caretaker right away. She reached with grubby fingers and a little smile on her lips. Beth's hands clenched into fists at her side until they were shaking.

"What's wrong?" Rick asked slowly.

Beth took a steady breath. "I'm sorry, Judith. I don't know who I am anymore. The old me wouldn't want you to be held by a stranger." She looked up at Rick, sadly. "I'm sorry. I don't know if I can."

Rick nodded. "I understand. Just know that you can spend as much time with her as you'd like, maybe get to know each other a bit more. Become less of a stranger." The man rested a hand on the young woman's shoulder and walked out of the room, leaving the door cracked just a bit. Beth remained where she stood, staring down at the baby. She waited a moment before hanging down a finger for Judith to grasp. Her grip was so strong that Beth almost broke out a smile. Judith brought the finger closer to her little mouth and nibbled on a knuckle, the faintest scrape of teeth on her skin. She's teething. "You're in for a tough one, sweetpea. Be good to your daddy, alright?" Judith cooed around the appendage.

A light knock at the door made Beth whip her head away from the baby. She found Daryl peeking through the door an odd exhaustion in his usually rigid demeanor. In his arms was a small stack of clothes for her from the group – Carl had contributed a gray t-shirt, Sasha gave a pair of loose jeans and a belt, and Daryl added one of his flannel button-up shirts.

"Ya okay?" He murmured.

"Mm-hm. Just getting reacquainted," she said. "You okay?"

He looked away as his answer. "I'm sorry I didn't stop-"

"Daryl, it's okay. I shouldn't have asked you to do that. I knew it was impossible to just slip past her." She inspected her shoes, avoided his eyes just as he had avoided hers. "No one's ready to hear what happened. Not even me."

…

The rest of the day, Daryl and Beth stuck together, hunting down by the stream. Daryl relearned her old ticks, replaced some old ones with new ones. Her trigger finger was stronger - less hesitant, more bloodthirsty. The dark-haired man had handed off his precious crossbow to her, brandishing his own knife instead. The weight in her hands was almost comforting. Being almost defenseless at the hospital had been difficult but she had managed, he concluded just by seeing how much she'd changed. Most of the kills they made were hers; Daryl was too distracted analyzing her so he let her have them. She trained the borrowed crossbow straight as she silently trudged over dry leaves and twigs. Her eyes were flitting over the ground, the trees, everywhere, seeing the big picture. He couldn't critique her, because she was doing everything he had ever taught her.

"Stop," he said suddenly, just loud enough above a whisper to scare off the squirrel Beth was following. She hissed his name, but it was over. The little rodent scuttled up into the trees.

"What the hell, Daryl! I almost had him-"

"What happened to ya, Beth?" he asked forcefully. "Ya have to tell me."

"…I don't want to right now."

"Dammit, girl! I need to know!"

"No. You don't." The heat behind her words burned him. "Those days when I couldn't shut up are over. I know what needs to be said and what needs to be kept a secret. If not for me, than for you."

"Me? What does that even mean?"

Beth spread her arms and let them fall with a slap against her legs. "If I tell you, you'll go off and do something incredibly stupid and I can't let you do that."

"_Please_, Beth," he gripped the tops of her arms tightly. Her eyes turned fearful but he couldn't stop. "Is that what ya wanna hear? Ya wanna hear me beg? 'Cause I'll do it if it gets ya to talk to me!"

"Let go of me!" Beth retched out of his hands, breathing heavy. Daryl knew that look, that reaction. He'd seen it in the mirror far too many times.

"God, Beth," he shook his head. "Please don't tell me they…"

"They didn't." She answered quickly, adding, "Not really." She hugged her waist until she trembled. In that moment, she felt like a small breeze could take her away; some part of her wished it would. But she was strong now, practically unbreakable, and sooner or later, the truth would have to come out. It was up to her to set the date, but there would be no more chances to back out. After a few minutes, she stared at him decidedly. "Okay, I'll tell you what happened… but not now. Tonight. When everyone's asleep, and you and I are on watch."

Satisfied, he nodded in the direction of the church. "C'mon. Let's bring dinner back to camp."

…

They were sitting in dark silence for hours before either decided to speak up. Beth kept her gaze out in front of her, into the blackness, while Daryl couldn't stop looking at her. She was right about this feeling like a dream. He always knew she was alive, but to finally be seeing her sitting beside him. He couldn't measure how much he had missed having her around. To fill the comfortable silence with something as little as her presence. She may be different, but she still had some of the same mannerisms. She still hung on his every word like everything he said was a promise – probably remembering how little he spoke in the little time they spent alone in the woods. She still walked with stubborn purpose, her hand always trained on the knife at her hip. He caught her a couple times that day, staring up into the sky with a starlit gaze. Daryl wondered if she was thinking of her father in Heaven. The archer knew nothing about the existence of God and Heaven, but if he knew anything about Hershel Greene, that's where he'd be.

"You were right about everythin'," he said, "back at the shack." When she said nothing, he continued. "Ya knew everyone was alive. Ya knew I'd miss ya. Ya knew I had to put away my past, even if ya didn't even know the worst of it. Ya knew everythin'."

"I didn't know this would happen," she mumbled. "And I can't put this away." She pointed to her face, the side with the scars. "I have to look at this. _They_ have to look at this." She ushered back towards the dirty white building where the rest of the camp rested. "And I'll never be rid of it." She didn't talk for a long time.

When she resumed, Daryl's heart clenched in his chest. "The car that took me… I didn't even see it coming. That's how I got the scar under my eye. It hit me and I woke up in the trunk. I must have blacked out again 'cause I don't remember anything between that and waking up in the hospital." She was playing with a leafy branch as she told her story, picking off the dark, dead leaves one by one. "They laid down the law with me: 'I do as they say and I live. I try to run and I am punished.' The first second they left me alone, I ran." She chuckled to herself. "I made it as far as the lobby, and they gave me this one," she said pointing to her bruised cheekbone scar. "I tried to climb down the elevator shaft, and they gave me this," pointing to the deep scar by her temple.

"And your arm?" Daryl asked.

She smiled proudly, "Made it all the way out the fence." Her smile fell as she said, "That was when I tried to escape with Noah. I think they killed him." Shaking her head, she stared down at the branch in her hands, picked clean of all its leaves. She began peeling off the bark. "Anyway, after that, I played obedient while I figured out a permanent escape plan."

"What were they doing?"

"Experimenting on the time it takes to die from a bite or scratch from a walker and what is happening as the victim is slowly dying," she explained. "In a way, they were looking for a cure for non-fatal bites."

"Any luck?"

"None. I'm sure you saw the rooms full of walkers?" He nodded. "Those were once living test subjects. They got bit on purpose and turned, no matter what kind of meds Dawn and her sick friends gave them."

"Dawn?"

"Officer Dawn Lerner. She ran the place. Always said it was for the 'greater good'."

"I think I met 'er when we came to get ya." Beth looked at him oddly. "Carol shot 'er."

"Good," she replied. "She was… she did terrible things. She and the others."

Daryl didn't want to ask for fear of the answer, but had to know. "What did they do t'ya?" he barely whispered.

She look up at him with that same scared, innocent gaze as she used to give him when they first got out of the prison. Suddenly, the air changed and chilled her skin. Her arms clung to each other. "I think that's enough for today." She made to stand up and he followed her.

"Beth-"

"This is the part that I was talking about," she said. "The part that would break you. It needs to wait." Beth turned towards the church, ready to go inside and sleep away the memories.

...

But she didn't sleep. Couldn't sleep. Not for a couple days. Her subconscious was still trying to convince her that she was still back at the hospital, tied to a slab, a walker hanging like a pendulum over her with its teeth snapping. Every night, she would have that same dream and it would restrict her from ever going back to sleep. Frequently, she would wake someone with her whimpers and cries. It was usually Maggie, tapping into her sisterly instincts, but would quickly shift under Beth's scrutiny and lie back down, never approaching.

Daryl and Beth continued to stick together, but rarely spoke to one another. They communicated mostly with carefully constructed looks. They went hunting more often than ever, but in a way, it was a release for both of them. The escape of doing good for the group and the relief of working hard in an environment where it is better to be silent and focused. Forcing himself to be quiet for once was becoming quite the struggle. Though she had explained all those terrible things that happened around her, there was still something worse that she thought would absolutely kill him. And it was killing him to know.

One night, she woke with a start from the walker pendulum dream. But this particular night she heard the creak of the sanctuary door closing. She sat up to see who was missing. Surprise surprise. Daryl's claimed corner was empty.

Peeking out the dirty window, she saw the redneck say something quick to Glenn, who was on watch, and leaving with a small wave. When he was out of sight, she exited the church as well. Glenn saw her coming. "Where's Daryl going?" she asked.

"Went to wash up at the stream," he answered, with a small grin. Before Beth could take another step, her brother-in-law stopped her. "Hey Beth? …I know you're angry with her; you have every right to be. But you have to understand that… after your dad, I don't think she could bear thinking about the possibility. It wasn't that she thought you were dead. She just couldn't handle the idea of you being dead." He looked down. "Probably doesn't make sense, but at the end of the day, you're still family. We all are."

Beth said nothing. Only turned to follow a certain archer. She hid behind a brush a couple yards from the bank where Daryl sat. For a while, that's all he did – sat and watched the water breathe in and out of current. A couple minutes later he sighed heavily, stood up, and started removing his shirt. Beth couldn't stop herself from blushing but there was no way she was going to avert her eyes. (I mean come on this is still Daryl Dixon!) His hard chest was dark with old dirt and sweat. Negative aspects of the apocalypse: no readily available running showers. His biceps twitched with every flex as he dropped his signature leather vest into the grass. His flannel shirt followed, at which point Beth had to stifle a gasp as he reached for his pants. All the blood and gore that she'd seen since the start of the infection, all the skills she'd adapted over the years, she was still inexperienced when it came to… things like this. He was standing in his boxers before she knew it. He turned completely to face the water, allowing Beth to marvel at his chiseled back. But something caught her eye, and furrowing her brow, she squinted to make it out from a distance.

A handful of reddish scars plagued the span of Daryl's otherwise smooth back. There was an X shaped one up by his shoulder, a cross on the other, right next to a tattoo of some sort. There were a couple of thicker ones as well, by his ribs and lower across the base of his spine. None of them had healed right but they looked to be pretty old.

He was waist deep in the water by then, rubbing down his arms with the cold water. All reason left her and she stood from behind the bush, purposefully stepping on a twig. His head jerked up to meet her eyes. She saw his sudden realization turn to fear and shame. "What're ya doin' out here, girl?" He said, harshly. She said nothing, trudging down the incline, peeling off her clothes with trembling hands. "What are ya…?" She blindly tossed her t-shirt, jeans, and boots beside Daryl's pile, and waded into the water toward him. Beth could only imagine how she looked; clad only in her bra and underwear, dirty and unkempt and skinny. Skinnier than normal, thanks to the people back at the hospital. She didn't miss the way he edged away from her, itching to run from what he was sure she would say. There was a reason he waited until everyone was asleep to get clean. "Stop," he urged to no avail. Her blue eyes were set and strong.

They faced each other, just staring at each other, one pair of eyes confident and the other ready to bolt. She slowly took his wet, left hand in hers, bringing it up to brush the scar on her forehead, then her cheek. The river water stung just a bit, but it felt good too; like she was alive. She was finally starting to believe that she had really escaped her captors and their cruelty. Daryl, on his own, cupped her other cheek with his opposite hand. His hands were so warm on her, though they shuddered equally as much.

Beth ventured off into uncharted territory and hugged him around his waist, touching the harshest of his scars on his spine. He shivered under her fingers, but stood his ground, letting his eyelids flutter closed. Beth's lips brushed the planes of his chest as she held him, waiting for him to reciprocate the gesture. At the touch of her soft cheek against him, he let loose a small, breathy moan. Big, calloused hands trailed down her neck, over her shoulders, only to catch on a piece of raised flesh.

Daryl's eyes burst open. Beth sensed the change in atmosphere and tensed, preparing for the wave that was about to crash over her. He grabbed her upper arms to forcibly twist her body around until she was facing away from him. The archer had to grip her arms tighter and tighter to stop the shaking in his wrists at the sight of her porcelain skin. Her back was criss-crossed with slashes of deep red, still slightly oozing blood. They stretched from her upper shoulder, across her shoulder blades, to just above her underwear. There must have been a dozen of almost-purple gashes cutting into her.

Flashbacks to his father with a bottle of whiskey in his fist attacked his mind, pricking his eyes with decade-old tears. But he refused to let the images win – this wasn't about him. His hands still on her shoulders, he felt her trembling under his scrutiny. Delicately, he brushed her hair over her one shoulder. He dipped a cupped hand into the water and let the liquid pour out over a single scar. Beth couldn't hold back the hiss of pain at the sensation, but when he paused to ask, she nodded him on to continue his ministrations. The touch of his hand made her skin tingle. Aside from the fact that before the prison was overrun, he would avoid touching anyone in any way. The most he would do was rub Judith's little hand with his index finger. This was completely different.

As Daryl washed her torn skin, he let his forehead rest against her neck, attempting to keep his breathing even. Beth was subconsciously doing the same, but she was failing miserably. There was so much heat that she forgot it was closing in on autumn around them. The icy water was the only thing keeping her from burning up. Her hands moved on their own as they reached back to unclasp her bra, giving her taller companion better access to her burdened back. He only paused once, returning to his task to hide the inevitable blush. Beth on the other hand, couldn't stop flinching, clutching the pads of her bra over her breasts. Every time his warm hand hovered over a physical memory of that God-awful place, she squeezed her eyes closed, ready to feel another lash from Dawn's knife. The hard set of her shoulders urged Daryl to continue when all he wanted to do was stop the pain.

When he had covered her back with water, the dried blood was gone but the red scars remained swollen. The surrounding bruises cast purple and yellow shadows over her skin. Though the sight of blood on her perfect skin had stabbed him like a knife, the hidden layer beneath was the twist of the blade. As delicately as a redneck like him could muster, he turned her to face him, her arms still holding her white bra to her chest. His thumb caressed her cheek, reminding her that her watery eyes had overflowed. With a quick, gentle kiss to her hairline, he pulled her into his arms to rest her head against his collarbone.

This is what she'd wanted. This is the moment she had dreamt about from inside her captivity of the false hospital. It was a couple days late, but still it lifted the weight from her entire body. She let her hanging bra fall from her hands into the stream to cling to his shoulders. At the sensation her bare chest meeting his, Daryl did his best not to make a sound. Though her back was torn and ripped, the rest of her skin was still soft and smooth. He had never felt anything like it. One of his big hands found its way into her hair and she could have fallen asleep with how good it felt. With her eyes closed and her mind clouded with relaxing pleasure, she tilted her head up and found his jawline with her lips.

She pulled back with wide eyes to that their eyes matched in size. Daryl shuddered but did not pull away. He couldn't deny that he wanted to know what it was like to kiss a girl like Beth. When he was with the Hunters and Len said those things about "losing a piece of tail" and "they don't last too long out here", he had questioned himself on his feelings for her. On late nights with no promise of rest, he wondered what Hershel would say. Would he know right away, like he always knew about things before anyone else? Would he intervene? Daryl couldn't help but hear the old man's voice screaming at him _"She's only eighteen, Daryl! You touch her and I'll kill you!"_ It would almost be funny to hear him threaten the archer, wobbling on one leg, using a shotgun as one of his crutches. But Daryl had thought about that – the age difference. In the old world, it would have been sick and looked down upon. It would technically be legal, but legalities don't always stop people from taking their opinions too far. But that world had been long over and it's all about survival now. He swore to himself that he wouldn't advance unless she wanted to – aside from the obvious fact that he would be too scared to make the first move anyway. And she had made the first move. Standing in a frozen river, practically naked, sharing their scars without saying a word.

"Beth…" he breathed almost to himself. Diving into the unknown with trembling hands and just a second of courage, he leaned down to meet her lips.

Good Lord, she'd never tasted anything as sweet as Daryl. She remembered vaguely that Jimmy was all saliva and Zack tasted like a mistake. But Daryl – oh Daryl – he tasted like cigarettes and winter wood, a woodsy pine scent that permeated every part of him.

The first time they touched lips, it was a barely-there brush of skin on skin that ran a bolt of electricity through both of them, making them audibly inhale. Daryl would never admit to it, but even before the dead started walking, it had been a long, long time since he'd kissed anyone. Drifting with Merle almost always lead to dirty motel rooms with equally dirty women – when Merle wasn't in jail for whatever reason. Shamefully, Merle's taunting of "C'mon, Darylina. You still a quivering virgin?" pushed him to comply with the nameless, faceless whores. But he had learned to avoid such situations with the excuse of cigarettes or (somewhat) fresh air.

The man pulled back just an inch, eyes still blissfully closed. When he opened them just a bit to make sure she was still there, she wore a breathless smile and hooded eyes, leaning in for more. He couldn't have been happier to oblige. They pressed mouths again, harder this time, never getting close enough. Beth thought that his lips would be as rough as the rest of him, but they were soft, warm. He kissed her like he had been waiting for this for a long time, even before he knew her. He held her cheek in the palm of his hand as he kissed her. Only when she winced into his mouth did he stop.

"Ya alright?" his voice was gravelly and it made Beth's stomach flip.

"Y-yeah, you… my…" He looked to see that his calloused thumb had rubbed along one of her scars. He pulled away and replaced his hand on the side of her neck.

"'m sorry," he whispered. She quickly shook her head. They stood that way for a long time, just standing before each other. They were content just touching. Alive. _Here._

Daryl touched his forehead to hers with a long sigh. They stayed like that for what felt like a long time, small fingers stroking his stubbled jaw once in a while. Daryl was taking her in – and she was doing the same. Feeling her skin beneath his fingers, her breath against his chin, the memory of her lips moving with his. He had briefly daydreamed after Terminus about his last moments with the young blonde, at the funeral home. He remembered her asking what changed his mind about good people, and at first, he didn't have a logical answer. And as she continued to ask, he realized it was her. He vaguely remembered saying, "I don't think the good ones survive." Looking at Beth, his heart clenched at how wrong he was.

God, she was barely out of her teenage years back then, and she was naïve and dependent. The second he saw that car drive away with her, he knew he would miss that part of her, just like she had said when her words were slurred with moonshine. And now, he could barely recognize her. It wasn't as obvious to him as it had been with Carol. Carol was hardened and merciless and darker than when he'd first met her. But Beth. Everything that he had seen at the stream in the dark, he was starting to see just a sliver of the Beth he used to know.

Daryl struggled to find the right words to say, settling for, "We should get back." He felt her nod shallowly, not wanting to separate from the new found warmth. Beth pressed one last kiss to his mouth and he found himself hoping that Hershel would be alright with this, because nothing was going to dissuade him from this little flame of happiness. When the fog had cleared in their minds, they saw that the sky was brightening with the promise of sunlight in an hour or so.

When they passed Glenn, Daryl had to threaten him with the point of his hunting knife. "If you even think about breathing a word of this-"

"You'll cut off my dick. Got it," Glenn waved him off with a shit-eating grin.

…

**Well, there ya go! I hope you enjoyed reading this! When I first put the plot together, I kind of was thinking about making it longer, maybe put a few chapters in, but I'm not so sure anymore. (I really don't have any other plot ideas that go past this but I would appreciate some ideas if anybody wants me to continue it!)**

**Have a lovely day and thanks again for reading!**

…


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, you guys asked and so you shall receive! After re-reading and re-re-reading, I decided that I didn't want to stop there. It also helped that a few people said that I should continue the story, so yeah, I kinda dabbled to see where I could go with it from here. It turned out to be almost DOUBLE the length of the last chapter, which is incredible because I don't think I've ever written something this long in one sitting! (Kinda proud of myself just ignore it.)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)**

…

As the many weeks passed at Gabriel's church, Rick and Abraham were ready to kill each other. The big, burly redhead was a broken record of "Washington D.C.! Washington D.C.! Washington D.C.!" Daryl had already recalled to Beth that Rick had made the okay for going up north with them, but they didn't have the resources to survive the journey. They were low on food, fuel, a single half-bus, and some of the group was still injured. They just needed a bit more time, Tyreese added, trying to ease the tension. The two leaders retreated back to their corners, to watch with piercing eyes and twitching fingers.

Once in a while, to calm the redhead down, Beth attempted to socialize with him, let them get to know each other. At first he looked at her like everyone had seen her before – an annoying child – but soon his impression of her changed. It was the day that she bagged her first deer without Daryl's help that made him rethink his judgments. "You're that tough-as-nails girl that Daryl was after, ain't'cha?" She smirked and curtsied for him. They talked lightly about how she faired inside her captivity. Beth narrowly avoided the serious details but explained that Daryl had briefly taught her how to fight, which interested Abraham. He started critiquing her movements and teaching new techniques, and soon it turned into an all-out fighting lesson. They practiced together for hours before they realized how long they had been working.

The new friends started meeting to fight every chance they could spare, to let off steam and escape from the odd looks the others were giving them. At one time, Maggie went over to Daryl who was watching briefly from the window, and whispered, "Ya think we should be worried that those two are spendin' so much time together?"

"Nah," he grumbled. "Let 'im teach 'er. She needs the practice."

"What, you didn't do a good enough job?" she quipped over her shoulder as she resumed her duties of preparing dinner with Carol. Daryl glared after her, spitefully wondering how she could joke like everything was normal while her sister ran around picking fights with gorilla-sized men and scowled at the world like her heart had iced over. There had been no progress with the skinny blonde girl.

Sooner or later, they had to make a run. Rick led the team side by side with Michonne, followed by Bob, Sasha, and Daryl. Of course, Rick offered for Abraham to tag along, saying that they needed one more person to help out. The truth of the matter was that the second the stronghold of the group was out of sight, Abraham was sure to take off with the bus, leaving them behind for the mission. Abraham saw through this and agreed to follow, at the very least admitting that even without the larger, more vulnerable group of people, the three of them would not make it very far with what they had. Not even if they took everything with them. Rick had his doubts, but everyone knew that he wouldn't do something as cruel as that, no matter what.

"If you keep glaring like that, your face will freeze," Michonne said from beside him. He snorted at her comment, effectively relaxing his features. They had come a long way from hating each other at the prison. Maybe it wasn't hatred as much as uneasiness. Michonne was a difficult creature to approach back then, more comfortable alone than in a stifling group. But no one can afford to be alone in this world anymore, she learned. Her grief was staggering, still catching glances of her boyfriend in the trees; her brother, her son, Andrea, and now Hershel. But she didn't shy away from them anymore; now, she smiled. A silent message that things were looking up and they were not forgotten, but her new family was still alive and needed to be protected.

They run into a couple of walkers on the way to the college Gabriel told them about. Nothing they couldn't handle. The dark woman offered sleepily to take one out, reaching over her shoulder for the hilt of her sword. When she grasped at air, she smiled at her stupidity. Those asshats back at Terminus had ripped it from her. Her blade forgotten, she bashed the walker's head in with the butt of her rifle. Sure, it was easier, faster to slice through its skull with one stroke, but in a way she didn't miss it. Her time separated from it arose memories of her last hours at the prison. Hershel's blood ran at the hands of the Governor, but it was with her blade. Hershel was killed…and then put down by the same katana. And for many days, she held it in her hands, ignoring the fact that the bringer of a great man's death was the one thing she was clinging to. She didn't miss it. She missed the person it killed.

Behind them a ways, Bob and Sasha were laughing softly, playing a game. Something about a good thing for a bad. Daryl couldn't help but listen, resisting the urge to laugh with them. Had to keep that stoic reputation, ya know?

But in all honestly, he was happy; happier than he'd been in quite a long time. Finding Beth alive had eased his anxieties that had been building since the Governor rolled in with a tank. When Rick had agreed that the group was to travel to D.C. to save the world, he wondered if he could bear to leave the girl behind, if she was still living. He had planned to talk to Rick privately about staying behind to track her down, but when he went after Carol, seeing that car, there was no option of waiting. He finally had some sort of lead and he wasn't about to let it get very far.

As much as it calmed him to have her around, he told her to stay behind, protect the group while they were gone. She agreed without much fight.

Things had been quiet between them since their little encounter at the stream. Daryl was far more nervous around her than usual, his insecurities getting the better of him. It didn't help that she was back to looking around warily as if she was still trapped in that hospital and not surrounded by her family.

Though, things were even more tense between Beth and Maggie. They still hadn't spoken. For a few days, Maggie had a telltale bruise on her cheek that Glenn frequently kissed. Glenn in turn was trying to be supportive of his wife, but he couldn't help but feel guilty that he was the subject of Maggie's determination rather than her blood sister. He knew that Maggie loved her – there was no question that she did – but she had fucked up, to be put bluntly. It would take a lot on Maggie's part to fix this, and so far, she hadn't made a single attempt. If anything she was growing fearful of her baby sister. Beth's eyes were cold as ice, emitting a fiery glare that resembled nothing of the little girl she once was. No one would ever hold power over this Beth; they would not live to see that day.

"How much farther?" Bob acquiesced.

"We're comin' up on it now," Daryl replied. The archer glanced over to the muscular redhead walking near to him, and decided to strike up a quiet conversation with him. "Abraham," he called. The sergeant look up from the path with his permanent glare, automatically gearing up for an altercation. "Just wanted to ask ya somethin'…about Beth-"

"Ahh, the little missus," the man chuffed. "She's a tough kid, I'll give 'er that. 'Lotta fire in that one. 'Think she got that from you."

Daryl crinkled his nose in doubt. "She said anythin'?"

Abraham glanced ahead to make sure no one was listening in, then let his voice become softer so that only Daryl could hear. "Nah, man. Nothin' about what happened in there. But I can tell that she picked up a whole lotta aggression from bein' in there. Kid's practically ruthless." He concluded somberly, "She's turnin' into one 'a us."

"Can't let that happen," Daryl growled to himself.

"Finally!" The pair heard Bob say just up ahead of them.

When they cleared the trees, they could see the mass of tall, aging buildings that made up the small college. It seemed mostly untouched from the outside, but every member of the group knew how the outside almost always looks better than the inside. The closest structure, a dormitory with the words "Wylan Hall" scrawled into the bricks, was the first building they made for. As they closed in on the main doors, Bob tugged on the handles, only for it to resist.

"What the hell?" he mumbled.

Abraham came up and pointed at a black scanner attached to the side of the door. "This is a college. Kids needed to swipe their student ID's to get in. Anybody got theirs?" he joked.

"Electrical power's been off since the outbreak, so shouldn't it be open?"

"Nah. Most of these buildings probably have generators keepin' it locked up tight. Must still be runnin'." He looked up the walls, checking for any lit rooms. It was still midday so any hope of a glowing room was almost impossible to see.

"Or someone's taken refuge in there and is tryin' to keep everyone else out," Rick offered.

"So what's the plan?" Daryl asked, gripping the strap of his crossbow. He didn't think that they were ready for another fight, but he would follow Rick's lead.

Rick thought for a moment before saying, "Alright. We don't have the people or the fire power to take Wylan if there're survivors inside, so we save it for another day. Let's make for the dining halls, get the food we need, maybe scour the Rec Center for weapons, and get out."

…

Carl was bouncing baby Judith on his hip, hoping that she would stop crying. The truth of the matter was that the teen knew next to nothing about babies. Yes, he took care of Judith thus far and wasn't lost, but something was wrong and he couldn't figure out what had her so upset. Nearly everyone in the sanctuary had put forth an effort to soften the girl's cries, to no avail. The girl had quite the lung capacity.

Tyreese was on watch outside, straining in his seat to go to the baby. He and Judith had become very close. He didn't want to take Rick's place as her father, of course – Tyreese would never dream of such a terrible thing – but he still felt as if he was her caretaker, making sure she's warm and clean and safe. He could hear the people in the church passing her around, doing their best to quiet her. They were acting like brand new parents, coddling up to the infant, promising her anything she wanted, if she could just settle down. He almost chuckled at the thought.

Carl was pacing the altar with his sister, closely followed by Maggie and Tara, who had begun to faun over the baby. Glenn watched with amusement toward the girls as he simultaneously cleaned a rifle. Rosita was doing the same, frequently slapping Eugene's hand away when he tried to poke her leg like an annoying child. In the back was a brooding Carol. The older woman was thankful that the baby was crying so that no one would bother her and her thoughts. She vaguely noticed how bitter she had become over the years.

Beth was lying on her back in one of the pews, her fingers laced together over her stomach. The blonde wanted to wait outside with Tyreese so she could pace and glance through the forest for movement, but she knew that wouldn't make time go faster; nor would it guarantee their safety. So she remained inside with the others, patiently waiting for the group's safe return, her anxiousness settling into her bones. Listening to Judith's wails, she imagined that was the source of the baby's discomfort.

"What's wrong, Judy?" Carl was whispering to his sister. She only replied with a louder cry that made Beth's head pound. She loved the little girl and could guess how confused she must feel, but all this crying needed to stop before there was an uprising amongst them.

"She's teething," Beth said, getting up. "She wants something soft to chew on." She made her way over to Carl, a twinge of apprehension in her heart but hearing the baby cry hurt more than her fears. Carefully, she took Judith into her arms and held her against her chest. Little hands gripped tightly to her shirt collar while her eyes wept heavy tears of frustration. Beth offered the child the knuckles of her index finger, which Judith quickly took into her mouth. She whimpered for a minute and then let out a tiny breath. The rest of the group that had been waiting on batted breath exhaled together. Beth almost laughed. "We'll have to get her some toy rings the next time someone goes out on a run."

Maggie had a small smile from where she stood a few feet away from her. "She must have missed her adoptive mama," she said softly.

After a minute of debate, Beth returned it. "I think she misses her daddy more."

The sisters shared a quiet moment of surrender. It didn't feel right to be fighting, regardless of their mistakes. This wasn't the way Hershel raised them; he raised them to be kind and forgiving. They weren't there yet, but their wounds were beginning to mend.

"They're back!" Ty called from outside. Seconds later, everyone was on their feet to welcome the group home… and to count those returning. Any less than five would be terrible. Any more than five would be danger.

The first to walk through the door was Sasha and Bob, lifting up duffle bags high over their heads, calling, "We hit the jackpot!" An excited round of cheers erupted in the tiny church. Rick and Michonne followed with an identical set of heavy bags hanging from their shoulders. Abraham was next, the ever-present stern gaze meeting Rosita and Eugene's. Daryl came in with Tyreese last, patting him on the shoulder after saying something to him.

Beth tried not to let it show, but she was relieved that he returned safely. She took notice of the group's clothes and skin speckled with dark blood, and as the archer came closer and read her worried face, he calmed her by saying, "Just a couple walkers in the cafeteria. Handled it pretty easy." She nodded shallowly, her worry starting to ebb. Before he walked away to where he made his perch at the last bench, he gently rubbed her shoulder and then Judith's head. A small smile graced his lips and with that he was turning his back to her again.

Beth watched him sit down tiredly with an introspective look in her eye. Things were different from a couple weeks ago, and neither of them were sure why. She had told him mostly everything – he couldn't know the rest, not ever – and she had showed him her battle wounds. Yet, she still felt wrong in her own skin. She remembered her old self and the person the hospital had made out of her, and both made her sick to her stomach. She found herself wondering, _Who am I supposed to be now?_ Holding Judy now had not soothed her like she had hoped. She had missed it, yearned for it, but it didn't set a hard _click_ in her brain to remember herself.

_What is there to salvage now? There's almost nothing left of me._

…

That night they slept with full bellies and tuckered themselves out with the excitement. Glenn had told stories of the last time they drank alcohol back at the CDC. A shadow cast over Rick and Daryl's faces as they solemnly remembered what happened there the next day. The sad truth about the infection that Jenner relayed to Rick. But they kept their spirits up as they listened to Glenn and reveled in the sound of so many people laughing. They were in the middle of the apocalypse and they were laughing. Daryl grinned secretly to himself, not really listening anymore – he was the one that kept filling Glenn's glass that night.

Oppositely, Beth sat in the open doorway to the sanctuary, looking out into the dark. She had made it clear that she needed some alone time to just breathe, the closeness becoming stifling and suffocating. Of course she had missed her family dearly, but this was just too much after all the time that had passed. She could only take so much at one time and she'd been enduring for weeks. Still, she felt Daryl's eyes on her once in a while just to make sure that she was still there.

She heard timid footsteps approach. Turning her head to see, she found the priest. Gabriel, she remembered, was his name. He sat on the steps opposite her. The scrawny man opened and closed his mouth a couple times before finally gathering his thoughts. "You're Beth, aren't you? The person they've been looking for?"

"Only Daryl was looking for me, but yeah, I'm Beth," she replied.

"Oh," he said quietly. "People are hard to find these days. People disappear and you can never be sure if they're alive or dead, or worse. When the dead started to rise, I found myself thinking about my family – my parents, my neighbors… I'd always thought about taking a car and checking to see if they had survived, but I never did. 'God will keep them safe' I told myself, over and over again until it became a resounding prayer." He paused to study his hands in his lap. "I still pray that they are alive and we will see each other again."

"You won't," Beth said blankly. "That plan about going to D.C. and saving the world? It's all bullshit. Most of the population is dead already. It's not just walkers anymore; it's people. People that used to run businesses and put their children to bed at night are out there right now, killing people for any number of reasons. Most don't even have a good reason, just because they can and couldn't in the old world." She looked at him with a hard stare. "You're family is dead. My family is dead. All of our families are dead."

Gabriel's eyes shook and his lips trembled with words he wanted to say but refused. He stammered under his breath as he jolted to his feet and walked away. Beth resumed her gaze out into the woods without a care of her new-found cruelty. "God has abandoned us, just like everyone else we relied on. No one is listening anymore."

…

The moon was clouded over that night. Carol had been in and out of false sleep, waiting for her chance. She took a quick peek out of the front window to see that, once again, no one was on watch. Enough was enough for the aged woman. She was glad to see her family alive, but things had changed drastically since Rick kicked her out on her own.

She felt out of place amongst her own family, and in a way, that realization scared her. Since Sophia, she had been constantly shifting herself through her new life of killing walkers and also raising a baby that was not hers. She loved Judith and she did what she had to do to protect her family, but being on her own had given her a sense of absolute freedom that being in a group did not provide.

Looking around the sanctuary for any wandering eyes, she silently got up, her things already packed for a getaway. In her boredom, she had studied the soft spots in the floorboards and had made up a map inside her head of the places to avoid if unwanted visitors tried to take the church for themselves. Who would have known that she would be using her boredom as an actual escape?

Carol had almost made it to the tree line before she heard, "Carol?" burst out of the silence, practically making her jump out of her skin. She turned to see little Beth lowering her rifle at the corner of the building. So she had been wrong; someone _was_ on watch. Carol never expected Rick to agree to put the teenager on watch by herself. If he didn't want to put Carl on watch, then how could he be okay with someone just a few years older than his son? Oh yes, because Beth wasn't _his_ child.

"Jeez, Beth, you startled me," Carol whispered in the almost-darkness.

"Didn't think anything could startle you anymore," Beth chided, a critical look in her eye. "What are you doin'?"

The elder woman could have laughed at how similar she was to Daryl. The man had said the same thing to her the last time she had made to leave. And she would have stayed for him, but Beth had not made the same kind of impact, so the blonde could hold nothing over her. "I can't stay here anymore. Everyone in there… they've forgotten precautions we take to survive. I'm sick of watching them make stupid mistakes over and over again. And you can't stop me from leaving."

"I wasn't going to stop you," Beth interjected. "I was going to join you."

Carol didn't hide her surprise. "Join me? You…want to leave?"

"They all look at me like I'm crazy, like I'm a monster. I know that they see my face and take pity on me, but then they walk on eggshells around me."

"They remember the little girl you used to be."

"Carol," a deep, gruff voice came from the porch. The two women turned to see the dark shadow of Daryl Dixon. "What are ya doin'?" He sounded angry, but remained quiet so as not to wake the others from their much needed sleep.

"Daryl, I have to go."

"Woman, I thought we were done with this runnin' away shit."

"I'm not running away. Just leaving."

"That's enough, Carol. Get inside." He made to grab her arm, which Carol ripped out of his hard grasp.

"I'm not undecided anymore, Daryl. I know I have to go. Rick will understand."

"I don't care what Rick thinks. I'm not lettin' you leave."

"You're not my husband, so stop ordering me to stay."

"Don't even put me in the same category as that prick! And I ain't orderin' ya t'do anythin'! But I will if ya don't get yer ass in that damn church-"

"Stop it, Daryl," Beth finally spoke up.

"What, are ya goin' along with this shit, Beth?" Daryl flung an arm in the short-haired woman's direction. When neither woman answered, his eyes flitted between them in dismay, finally settling on his blonde companion. "You are goin' along with this," he said in disbelief.

"I was askin' Carol to let me go with her."

"What the fuck, Beth, we just got the family all together again, and now yer gonna leave us?"

"I was thinkin' about it, yeah."

"Dammit, Beth. We risked our lives to get ya outta that place. We put everyone in danger to go lookin' for you! I wasn't about to go anywhere without ya!"

"I'm not who I used to be, Daryl; I'm not a little girl anymore. I can't stand being stuck in the glass case they put me in. I can't stand being stared at like a sick puppy. I can't do it." Beth's words trailed off into silence, anticipating Daryl's anger. She watched his shoes instead of facing him. For the longest time, the loudest thing they could hear was the impending breeze through the forest. She could just imagine the look on his face. The hurt. The betrayal. Everyone leaves and now here she was, leaving him too.

Finally, he turned to walk away from them, back toward the church. "Do what ya want, Beth."

His voice almost broke her heart. It was harsh and final, but also resigned. He wasn't going to fight her or force her to stay if she didn't want to. But, damn it, he wanted her to stay. He didn't even have the energy to slam the door. She stood in place, watching him go. She must have stood there for hours, because when she turned to where Carol was, she was long gone.

She remained on watch until the sun was beginning to rise through the overcast. It would rain soon, she was sure of it. A creak of the door sounded behind her, and out stomped a brooding Dixon. He ignored her as he unzipped his pants and lumbered out into the woods, just barely out of sight. Beth stood slowly, ready to intercept him from reentering the church. When he returned from taking a piss, he almost plowed right through her on purpose. If she hadn't gripped his bicep so hard, he would have pushed her out of his way if he had to. He gave a heavy, irritated sigh, keeping his blackened eyes on the porch door. It actually took physical strength to stop himself from looking at her.

"Daryl-"

"I'm surprised yer still here. Thought ya would've been gone by now. _Again._" He pushed forward, refusing to admit that he let her stop him a second time. The frustration was getting to him, and he resisted slapping her hand away. "If yer waitin' around for a heartfelt goodbye, then yer-"

"I'm sorry," she cut him off, effectively. He didn't respond, silently asking her to keep going. "I want to stay."

"Why?" he growled.

Her grip on his bicep collapsed and pinched the fabric of his sleep between her shaking fingers. She looked down, hiding her eyes with her long hair.

"I want to stay," she said, avoiding the question.

His tense shoulders relaxed as he slowly exhaled. His hands itched to hold her close, to kiss her hair, and say everything was okay, but some tiny part of him wanted her to know how hurt he was that she had wanted to leave him behind. But this was enough for one night. He was tired and Michonne was up next for watch duty.

"We should get some sleep," he said. "C'mon."

She let him lead her inside, and after they'd separated to their respective corners, they both fell fast asleep.

…

The next morning, Daryl caught Rick alone to tell him about Carol. At first, Rick showed the slightest twinge of disbelief, but it soon disappeared. He had seen the change in Carol's demeanor towards the group after reuniting him with Judith. He would be eternally grateful, that was the truth, but he knew that this was something she had to do.

"Thank you for telling me. I'll break it to the others later today," Rick concluded. Daryl hummed his approval, but didn't make to leave. Rick could see the odd look in his eye. "Daryl?"

The archer shifted his weight nervously, his voice dropping to a low whisper. "She was my friend, man."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"She almost took Beth with her." That made Rick take pause. "Beth's different; she changed just like Carol did. I'm just thinkin'… what if…"

"Beth's not going to leave like she did," Rick stopped him. "Carol… after Sophia, she clung to survival because it was what she needed. She needed something to consume her thoughts. Drown out the loss of her daughter. Beth's got more to live for." The noble leader didn't elaborate on that, leaving Daryl to make the list himself. He patted his brother on the shoulder and went to check on baby Judith.

…

Beth and Sasha had decided to go down by the stream to fill the water jugs. What the young blonde didn't know was that Sasha and Maggie had conspired to formulate a plan to fix things between the Greene sisters. Maggie was shaking with worry that her sister had changed too drastically to get her back, but she refused to quit her efforts.

Sasha was gossiping about her relationship with Bob, telling her the story of their first kiss on the train tracks – just barely avoiding the fact that their mission at the time was to find Glenn in Terminus, rather than Beth – and their little game of "a good for a bad". When she gave some examples from the game, she beamed to hear Beth actually laugh at some of them. Not many in the group had seen her do much more than glare recently. Even around Judith she had been tight-lipped.

At the thought of the little baby, a small cooing came from behind them. Maggie had the child swaddled in her arms with wide-eyed excitement lighting up her face. "I think Judith here miss ya, Bethy." She looked down at the baby, who had a finger in her mouth and a shy smile on her lips. "Go ahead, sweetie-pie! Can you say 'Beth'? Beeeeth?"

"Beh…Beh…" The quiet sounds of what could be her name in time caused the trio of ladies to gasp. Beth herself covered her mouth with a hand in surprise. The reaction caused the baby to giggle around her finger.

"Good job, Judy! Good job!" Maggie congratulated her. "I was just singin' the alphabet to her and I thought she said somethin'. She's startin' to pick up words!"

"I have a feeling you're gonna be her first word, Beth!" Sasha laughed.

Beth was still in shock at Judith's development. Of course, she knew that this was part of the baby timeline and Judith was growing like a weed, but it still hit home for her. She was starting to feel a flicker of her old self through the warmth that Judith gave her. She eagerly reached out to hold the child, softly petting her downy hair. Tiny fingers latched onto the collar of her shirt. She felt Judith grab hold of the fabric of Daryl's flannel shirt and began to nibble on it.

Beth admitted to herself that she had missed this – being close to the baby, holding her. This baby was the hope and dreams of all life on Earth now. If Beth had to fix the world herself, she would make damn sure that Judith sees the world return to normal.

Bob came running out of the trees, panting and pointing behind him, "You guys better come back right away. Shit's goin' down back there." And with that, he was gone again. Only a glance was exchanged between the ladies before they quickly made their way back to camp, Beth holding Judith close as not to jostle her with her wide strides.

They could hear the yelling all the way from the edge of the clearing. It was Abraham, again. Beth would have rolled her eyes, but something was far more violent in his voice this time. The words weren't clear until they were inside the church, where the first thing they heard was, "…wasting time! We are leaving _now_!"

"We don't have the necessary supplies yet; people are still healing," Rick said.

"We have a bus; they can heal in there! I don't care how ya do it! But we are leaving within the next hour and ya'll can either come with us or not."

"Even if we did come with you, there isn't enough room on the bus for all of us and the necessary supplies to make it there."

"Sacrifices will have to be made," Abraham growled and silenced the entire church.

After minutes of horrid disbelief, Sasha uttered a tiny whisper of the words, "You sound like those people from Terminus."

A second later, there was a riot in the aisle of the sanctuary. Everyone was yelling and screaming and fists were flying through the air. Rick and Abraham were at the center of it, exchanging blows. Daryl unleashed his fists to Abraham in a habitual urge to protect his brother. Glenn did his part to pull Rick back unsuccessfully, and Carl had somehow wedged his way inside to stop his father from fighting.

Suddenly Judith screamed in Beth's arms, the loudness bothering her to tears. Beth lightly patted her back subconsciously, trying to shush her. All of a sudden, the church went silent. Every single person in the building was looking at the child. Abraham had Rick's shirt collar in his heavy fist, and in turn, Abraham's shirt was in Daryl's hands. The redneck released him like he had been burned, and quickly trod over to the crying baby in Beth's arms. His gentleness came out as he cradled Judith's head in the palm of his hand, wiping away a tear with his thumb, softly making "_shh shh_" sounds. Judith whimpered but began to relax into him.

"No more big crocodile tears, sweetheart," Daryl whispered under his breath. Beth noticed a blossoming bruise on his jaw – courtesy of Sgt. Abraham Ford. She reached out to touch it, but his free hand enclosed over hers, stopping her. "I'm fine," he grumbled.

"This bullshit fighting needs to end," everyone turned to Glenn when he spoke up. "Gabriel do you have any maps?"

"Yes, I do," he nodded shortly, still shaken by the fight that had just taken place in his "house of God". He returned from a back room with a handful of pamphlets, upon which Glenn replied with, "perfect" and took them all.

"Abraham, what route were you gonna take?" And so began the formation of a plan. The negotiated the roads, anticipating herds of walkers, blocked off roads, and other obstacles, until finally they had a thick black line drawn on the first map. "Any objections to this?" Glenn asked the group after he had briefed them. When no one spoke up, he took a second and third map and drew the exact same directions. "Abraham and his group will go on ahead in the bus, get to D.C. first and get Eugene to do his thing. The rest of us follow any way we can, on foot or if we find a car along the way. That way, those that still need time can have it and still make it to Washington."

"We're splitting up?" Carl asked from the back.

"Just for a little while until we all make it to Washington," Glenn said to Carl, and then turned to the whole group. "And we all know the route so we won't really lose each other."

"So who's all goin' in the bus?" Tyreese asked.

"Ginger, Pigtails, and Princess Mullet, obviously," Daryl added. "but who else?"

"I want Glenn and Maggie. Tara, too," Abraham said gruffly.

"What?" Beth heard herself protest.

"Bethy, it's okay-" Maggie quietly said.

"No! No, you can't do that!" Daryl picked Judith up out of her arms, and Beth barely noticed in her panic. "You can't take her!"

"Beth, Beth," Maggie ran up to her, clutching her sister's face in both hands as if to steady her. "It's okay. I'll be fine. You'll be right behind us."

"They can't take you! I'm sorry! Maggie, I'm sorry I hit you! I'm sorry…" Beth whimpered, collapsing her head on Maggie's shoulder. Maggie gathered her up in her arms, stroking her blonde hair back, reminiscent of days before the outbreak.

"It's okay, Bethy. I deserved it for what I did to you. I'm so sorry." Maggie attempted to suppress her smile at the confessions between them. She caught the eyes of Daryl Dixon, who had overlooked the encounter with Judith wriggling in his hold. The big, strong man bounced the toddler, earning him a small coo from the girl. It had been a long time since he'd held her – probably not since she was born. Maggie couldn't help but stretch a smile to see the contrast between the two. Daryl was dark with grime, looming with height and age, while holding this spotless bundle of pink that seemed too small against his broad chest. Beth had chosen her friend correctly, Maggie thought to herself.

"Hate to break up this tender moment, but we need to make a decision," Abraham said, harshly.

Maggie pulled herself out of the embrace, telling him, "I'll go with you."

"Me too," Glenn added, smiling at his wife. "You know I can't leave you with these assholes."

"Aww, you're so sweet," Maggie replied with a cheeky grin.

"Same," came Tara's quiet voice. Beth caught the coattails of a memory of her own timid voice back at the prison, offering to come on a run with such a quiet voice, she sometimes wondered if she had spoken at all.

"Should Judith go on the bus, too?" Tyreese asked. "I can go with her, keep an eye on her."

"Thank you, Ty. But I want you with us to watch our backs. Besides, I need to make up for lost time with my daughter." Rick organized.

It took almost an hour to create some sort of strategy, filing people into pods and groups. In the bus was Abraham, Rosita, Tara, and Eugene, with Glenn and Maggie as back up. The second group that would be following closely to the vehicle would consist of Rick, Carl, Judith, with Michonne, Daryl, and Beth watching the forest like a hawk. And the final group of Sasha, Bob, and Tyreese would take up the back, while also babysitting Gabriel and teaching him to defend himself. The cleric unwillingly agreed, making it known to everyone that it would be a challenge, both for him and those who would be teaching him. (Sasha had groaned openly, rolling her eyes toward Rick, who only shrugged.)

At the end of the meeting, Beth approached her tall, dark friend who still had Judith secured in his arms. They switched roles back as the blonde relieved him of baby duty, saying in an attempted light-hearted voice, "At least the three of us are together, right?"

Daryl made no such attempt, keeping his gaze down and his voice low. "Yeah."

When he turned to walk out the front door, Beth asked after him. "Where are you going?"

"Hunting." He said nothing else. Beth wondered what he was thinking. He wasn't angry, otherwise he'd be yelling and screaming at her, or at least glaring. He was quiet and approachable, but at the same time he didn't seem like he wanted to be noticed. Something was up with Daryl Dixon, and being the open book he usually was with his current mood, when it was a mystery… it would stay a mystery.

…

They set off for Washington D.C. the following morning. They all worked to load up the bus group with enough provisions to last a couple miles, and each member of the group packed a bag with a map in case they got separated from the main three. Gabriel put up a last minute fight to stay in the church where it was safe, but with a sharp-eyed pep talk from Carl, he slumped along to prepare for their journey north.

The decision was made that they would all make one last pit stop at the college to scavenge for any remaining supplies. The last time they had searched the place, there had still been places they didn't clear off, and hopefully, no one had stopped by in the last few days. Rick selected a small group to go in and collect, while the others waited by the bus parked on the side of a back road. Tyreese, Glenn, and Tara volunteered, and Rick asked Daryl and Beth to take up the rear, watch their backs. As they slipped out from the forest's edge, Beth saw how abandoned the campus was. She was vaguely reminded that she had been looking up universities before the outbreak and had turned this place down because of their poor music program. Strange how close she had been to going down with it, she thought to herself.

The sky was shadowed with overcast, as it had been for a day and a half. But today was darker, like the rain was about to descend on them. Daryl eyed the clouds with the hint of a glare, daring the weather to turn.

The group was walking through campus, casually but guarded, when a low rumble erupted above them. "Storm's about t'hit," Daryl commented.

"The noise'll make the walkers antsy, make 'em hungry." Tyreese added.

"We get in, get out before the rains come," Rick planned, quickening their pace to the dining hall.

Beth was hanging back with a rifle, surveying the area when she saw movement in the corner of her eye. Glancing in the shift's direction, she at first thought it was a wandering walker. It was darkened, both in the shadow of one of the buildings and also in the lack of sunlight, tucked half behind a corner wall. But something about it struck her as odd. It wasn't swaying like the usual walker, barely aware that it had working legs. It didn't seem moved by hunger like the others. It was still, careful as it peeked around the wall, looking at the cluster of the trespassing group. Its lanky form reminded her of a recent confidant from her days at the hospital. And suddenly, it was like she had seen his ghost.

"Noah?" She took off running without a decent thought of what she was doing, moving on impulse. As she ran, it began to rain.

Daryl heard her say something under the patters of the descending storm and watched confusedly as she sped off by herself. "Beth? Beth! Wait!" Huffing, he ran after her. He tried not to be harsh in his thoughts but he couldn't stop thinking, _Dammit, this stupid girl is gonna get herself killed one a'these days!_

She raced around the path she had thought she'd seen the tall boy, sliding over a growing puddle with her speed around the corner, running down the alley to a back door leading into a random building. Daryl cursed as he tried to keep up with her. _I'm gettin' too old for this shit,_ he thought to himself as he burst through the door. He watched as she didn't even wait to check for walkers. He did his best to cover her as she ran in every which way like she was searching for something.

She began to slow down when she realized that she had no idea where the ghost had gone. Panting caught her attention behind her to see that Daryl had followed her. "Dar-"

"Fuck, Beth, what the hell are ya doin'?!" he started to scold her. A loud thunder strike cut him off, a gurgling sound coming from somewhere close. Walkers. "Go, go, go!" he urged her in a hushed voice. The water crashing heavily against the windows must have woken the dead that were wandering around the halls. Another boom of thunder intensified the hungry sounds that whispered from just around a corner. They did their best to remain silent as they went down the hallway of the apparent dormitory.

The halls were dirty with clothes, blood, and trash, pale-colored walls crusted with grime. What probably happened was students probably had been quarantined for safety and riots broke out for necessities, or maybe a walker got in and turned them all. Either way, Beth and Daryl were out-numbered and in danger. They needed a secure room to wait out in, at least until the storm passed. The noise from the thunder and the flashes from the lightning were stirring up the dead, making them more bloodthirsty than ever. And now they had the scent of fresh meat in their midst.

They reached a dead end with only an open door to their right. Daryl pushed her inside, slamming the door shut in his hurry, knowing that it wouldn't hold all of them for long. In the main room they found the typical set up – two beds, two desks, a handful of dead bodies. Whoever had lived in this room had taken care of themselves for a while, putting down a couple of walkers. Maybe they had gotten out alive. Beth kept searching for an out of the building, but only finding a bathroom with another cluster of twice dead walkers lying on the floor. A familiar nod and signal from her companion told her to get into the shower, pulling the curtain closed as best she could. He rushed to tug all the walker bodies in front of the small shower like sandbags in war. He cut the leg off one body, letting the dark blood splatter and soak the plastic shower curtain. Deeming the camouflage suitable, he climbed over the bodies at sat behind an exhausted Beth, his crossbow out and armed, right as the main door rebounded against the back wall. The walkers had broken through.

The blonde girl gripped her knife, thinking that she must look very unconvincing as she leaned her head back against the wall, panting like a dog. Daryl was attempting to calm his own nerves as he fixed his stony glare on the shadows behind the curtain. He blindly searched with his hand for Beth, touching her just above the knee. He squeezed once, asking if she was alright, to which she responded by wrapping her tiny hand around his wrist. _I'm okay, don't worry, _it meant. He gave her one last squeeze before focusing completely on their safety. If the walkers even touched the shower curtain, Beth and Daryl would be fucked.

They were wedged in that tiny shower for what felt like an eternity, waiting on baited breath for the horrid sounds of the dead to pass. One by one, the walkers seemed to move on, returning to the hallway in search of a meal, until the sounds were gone from the room.

"I'm sorry, Daryl," Beth whispered as quietly as she could.

"What the hell were y'runnin' for?" he murmured back.

"I thought I saw Noah."

"That guy ya escaped with?" She nodded slowly. "I thought ya said he was dead."

"I thought he was. Maybe they did kill him and I'm just seein' a ghost."

Daryl was silent for a moment. "You miss 'im." It wasn't a question.

"I feel responsible for him. If he's really dead, then I was the one that got him killed."

"I'm sure that ain't true."

"I tried so hard to get back to you," she said suddenly. At first, she thought he was going to smile like he used to, but instead he looked away.

"Is that why ya tried to leave? Figured out that I wasn't worth it?" he grumbled.

"What? Daryl, no, that wasn't it at all!" She wanted to shout at him, but she could still hear the walkers looking for them outside the room.

"Then why?"

"I…I don't know. After the hospital, I feel like a completely different person. I see the way the others look at me, like I'm a stranger or a monster. It scared me," Beth shivered. "I saw that they saw Carol the same way, so when she was about to leave, I thought that maybe it would be in everyone's best interest for me to leave."

"Not mine, Beth," he interjected. "No one would've wanted ya to leave, but least of all me. I just got ya back, girl. After all we've been through…"

"I couldn't bear to think about how you'd react. I was thinking of Judith, Maggie. They would have been better off without me."

"God, Beth, ya can be so stupid sometimes," he said. Before she could balk at his comment, he continued. "Maggie loves ya, and so does Lil' Asskicker. Ya really think that ya could just leave that little girl behind?" When she didn't respond, he watched as she dropped her head like she was going to cry. He grasped her face in his large hands, forcing her to meet his eyes. Speaking softer than ever, he asked her, "Ya really think I would've let ya go?"

Their foreheads met when Beth leaned forward. They hadn't been this close in what felt like weeks. His breath on her cheeks was so warm and comforting she couldn't stop her eyes from fluttering closed. Daryl surprised himself by brushing his lips over the corner of her mouth. She in turn pressed herself into it, relishing in the touch of his lips against her skin. She delicately captured his mouth in a full-on kiss, earning her a low gasp from her male companion, but he did not pull away. Instead he kissed her back with fervor, his hands on her face moving back to cup her neck. She sighed contently into his mouth at the heat consuming her.

When he pulled back for a breath, he barely heard her say, "Don't stop." Pausing in surprise from only a moment, he quickly complied by kissing her hard. Her hands clung to his shoulders, her nails creating crescent moons on his skin. Every searing touch set fire through his veins. He had missed this. Ever since the incident at the riverside, he had been nervous – almost frightened – of what she would think of him afterwards. He had given her space, probably more than necessary, but more accurately he was giving himself space to get his thoughts together. And then the leaving with Carol thing happened, and all he wanted to do was escape. _That's all I've ever been good at; running away,_ he had thought to himself that night. He knew it wasn't true, but damn, it hurt to imagine her leaving him.

Before he was aware of what he was doing, Daryl's strong arms were around her waist, belting her to him. He pulled away from her mouth to plant wet kisses along the length of her neck, tasting her sweat. She was trying not to make noise, the ever present fear of keen-eared walkers making decisions for them, but he was making it damn hard to control herself. Daryl's mouth swallowed her gasp when a huge crash of thunder shook the building, and she soon forgot that they were still in danger.

His big hands ran up and down her back over her shirt, being careful of her still-healing scars, when he suddenly dipped his fingers into the back of her jeans. Beth could just feel him about to recoil and apologize, so instead, she let out a heavy breath in his ear to prove to him that it felt good. Luckily for both of them, it worked. He palmed her buttocks, strengthening his grip on her more and more, until she was convinced she could cum just from this. In his ministrations, he was indirectly – but purposefully – thrusting her hips into his, creating an incredible friction that could have done him in with all of his clothes still on.

They were still tucked into the corner of the shower floor, Daryl noticed. That would just not do. He tugged her away from the wall until she was lying on her back under him. His hands removed themselves from her pants – to which Beth nearly groaned in annoyance – and engulfed her breasts over her shirt. Her mouth flew open in surprise and pleasure as he began to massage them. The fabric was warming her chest until it became stifling and she couldn't take it anymore. She ripped off the flannel button-down first, then pulled Sasha's gray t-shirt over her head. Because she had dropped her bra into the river the last time they had done this, she had chosen to go without the strappy article until the next clothing run. Daryl learned this fact the fun way.

At first, Daryl looked taken aback by the sight of her. Even back at the stream he hadn't seen this much of her. But soon after the initial shock, his gaze turned predatory. His mouth returned to sucking on her slender neck, trailing down over her shallow collarbone, until his mouth enclosed around her pink nipple. Before shutting his eyes, he caught a glance up to Beth's face. Her mouth was open, an unknown litany of sounds being suppressed, her eyes hooded and dark. The archer could have laughed at the sight of his handiwork.

His long hair tickled her skin, aiding to the indescribable sensations Beth was being introduced to. Jimmy had been too scared to try anything more than kissing with her, which may have been a good thing for her. Jimmy didn't have the experience or the allure to make magic like this happen. Zack had tried but he was only a play thing at the time. He wasn't infatuated with her and nor was she, but the world had ended so why not screw around?

A swipe of Daryl's tongue brought the girl back to her ecstasy. It was getting more and more difficult to keep her voice in check. Beth urged him to cease his activities as she pulled him back to her face to kiss him again. God, he was so good at that. He kissed like he was asking permission, but also like he was claiming her as his. And they both knew that she would comply full-heartedly.

He loved kissing her. He could only kiss her for hours until her lips were bruised and he would have no issues. She could ask him to do anything for her and he'd do it, if her lips were the reward. Though she was smart enough to swallow the sounds he so desperately wanted to hear, he could feel her body responding to him and that was just as good.

Suddenly she sat up to face him fully. He felt her lithe fingers picking at the buttons of his shirt. She whispered against his lips, sighing, "You still have clothes on."

"Observant, Greene," he chuckled at her pouting expression. Once she had separated all of the buttons, she pushed the fabric over his smooth shoulders. Daryl felt her lips leave his to place little kisses down over his stubbled jaw until she reached his shoulder with her mouth. He had never been kissed there before and it felt so fucking amazing now that he had. Her teeth barely grazed the skin making him exhale a quiet moan. She nibbled and licked at the exposed skin, feeling his muscle roil under her tongue. He tasted like sweat and the forest, much like her first impression of his mouth back at the water's edge weeks ago.

He pulled her hair tie out so that her blonde locks could spill over her shoulders. He ran his thick fingers through the strands, setting fire to Beth's nerves. She bit the ridge of his shoulder just a little harder than intended and felt something twitch against her thigh. She looked down to their adjacent laps where she saw his hardness hiding under his pants. Beth hoped that he didn't pick up on her blushing cheeks. She had technically seen a dick before – technically meaning she'd felt it briefly before it entered her – but it had been at the prison in almost absolute darkness. How long ago that had been…

She peeked up through her messy hair to see Daryl's eyes flitting around like that of a bird's. He was nervous, embarrassed, and possibly afraid of rejection. To ease his worry, she reached for his belt. He swiftly caught her wrist, before she could undo it. "Ya don't have t'rush it," he said, his voice husky and course.

"I want to," she replied in barely a whisper. Still he didn't remove his hand. The sky rumbled above them.

"Not yet, girl," he said, his head swooping in to capture her lips in another kiss. This one was shorter and more innocent than the others. "We should get back. Didn't really tell anyone where we were goin'."

He got up to stand, his discarded shirt in his fist, but was caught off guard by a pale hand pushing him roughly back against the tiles of the shower wall. He grunted at the impact and turned to see that the hand was connected to Beth. She was giving him a mischievous glare, the hint of a smile hiding under her gaze. "Oh, no, Mr. Dixon. We're not done yet." The hand holding him in place trailed down his bare chest over his nipples and down his abs. Daryl kept his wide eyes on her face, watching a sexy side of her burst out for him to see.

"Beth, stop," he said gruffly. "It's…too fast."

"Do you want me to slow down for you?" She said as she ran the tip of her tongue over the planes of his chest. She could feel his heartbeat pulsing under her tongue. He said nothing in rebuttal; his eyes like saucers as she moved lower and lower. Soon enough, she was on her knees in front of him, rubbing him through his pants. Daryl didn't even have the energy to will his throat to swallow the lump of apprehension. His muscles were stiff, unmoving as she finally pulled off his belt and tugged his zipper down.

Beth tried not to show how nervous she was. She hadn't done this when Zack asked her, but she knew the basics of what she was about to do. When he sprang free, she almost lost her nerve. He was huge; hard and thick, much bigger than Zack. But Zack was still just a teenager, and Daryl was a man.

She only needed two seconds of courage, and she counted herself down. _One… Two…_ on three she licked him from base to tip, making an animalistic noise rise up out of Daryl's chest.

He hesitated to touch her, repeatedly thinking, _This is wrong, this is wrong…_ But she was so beautiful and it had been so long and all he would ever need is to touch her. She took his tip into her mouth and gently sucked. He nearly collapsed. He gave in, brushing back her hair from her face, just feeling her skin under his palm. With each descent of her head, she swallowed more of him. Daryl was starting to believe in Heaven by the time she pulled up for air. She was gasping just over his erection, her hot breath coaxing him to finish.

"Stop," he whimpered. "Stop, stop…"

Beth reluctantly ceased her ministrations, about to ask why, but was cut off when he leaned down to press their lips together in a tangle of feverish tongues. Daryl distracted her from his pumping, as he was not willing to cum in her mouth and possibly scare her away. He imagined her mouth in him again, begging him to fuck her right here, on the bathroom floor, moaning his name into his mouth, her legs tight around him…

Daryl was so close when he suddenly decided to open his eyes to look at her, and the sight that he witnessed sent him spiraling down. Her hand had disappeared beneath the lip of her pants, her delicate wrist circling and she touched herself under him.

He bit down on her shoulder as he released onto the floor of the shower, swallowing his pants and groans of pleasure. Suddenly, the tiny cubicle was a sauna and the heat was almost unbearable. Their breaths mingled hotly, their foreheads once again joined. She reached up to stroke his scruffy jaw as he calmed down from the high. It took minutes for him to finally open his eyes to face her fully. A soft, quick breath came from his mouth that had twisted into a light smile. They shared the small chuckle. As a parting kiss, Beth pecked the tip of his nose, to which he returned with a wink.

They took their time redressing each other, placing little kisses on any available patch of skin they could sneak. But when it was time to leave the safety of the shower, they were all seriousness and survival. Crossbow poised and knife out, they peeked around every corner. They only had to put down four walkers before they found the exit.

Rick and the others were nearby when the exit door creaked open. "Where t'hell did you two go?" Rick said, sternly.

"We were worried sick," Glenn said as he tried to catch his breath. "We didn't know where you'd gone or where to look."

"We pretty much ran around in circles looking for ya," Tara spoke quietly, still getting her bearings to the big group. Suddenly, Beth felt guilty for delaying the plan for everyone else.

"It was my fault. I thought I saw someone from the hospital and I ran off. I'm sorry, Rick," she mumbled. "It was stupid and reckless."

Their leader remained wearing his scolding glare for a minute, but soon gave in. "At least, Daryl went with you on your little adventure. Kept ya safe."

"Yeah," Beth smiled to herself. "He took care of me."

Before Daryl could try to hide his secretive smile, Rick ushered them to join the rest of the group again to gather the supplies they needed to continue. When no one was looking, Daryl brushed his fingers across her knuckles, loving the little moments to just feel her warm skin. He pretended not to notice the way her cheeks pinked, saving that knowledge for his own nighttime thoughts.

…

After gathering the essentials from the dining hall – plenty of canned foods and kitchen knives that could be used as weapons – they met back at the road where the bus was parked. Carl and Judith were playing in the back seat of the bus, the older sibling wiggling his fingers over his sister's little arms. They were starting to see her personality showing. First thing to know about little Judith is that she loves being tickled.

Maggie and Rosita were loitering outside of the open door, talking with smiles on their faces. Beth wondered if they were gossiping or fawning over things their lovers had said, like the old days were conversations weren't about food or survival. The others were unpacking and repacking their bags, making sure it was all accounted for and slotted conveniently enough. They were spending time together before they divided – purposely this time. The waiting group saw the others coming out of the woods with bags of collected items. Some helped take some of the bags and began to lay things out on the ground for even distribution.

As that was done, Beth wandered over to Maggie's side, Rosita seeing that the sisters needed some alone time. The girls nudged each other's shoulder silently, exchanging long-forgotten sisterly expressions. "Hey," Beth began.

"Hey yourself. How was the run?"

"Good," she said shortly, doing her best to keep her cheeks cool. "Fun."

"Fun, huh?" Maggie stared at her suspiciously. Yeah she totally knew what was going on. And Beth could almost see it in Maggie's eyes that she was caught, but she couldn't be sure. "How was it really?"

"I told you; it was good. I haven't been on a run in a while."

"C'mon, Bethy. You can tell, big sis. Is he a good kisser?"

Beth was biting the corner of her lips so hard to keep her smile from appearing, but at the invasive question, she let it go. Her grin was blinding with an emotion she thought she had lost in the hospital. "He's an amazing kisser."

They shared a hearty laugh, making a few of the others smile at the sound. It had been a long time since they had heard something like it. Daryl shook his head, the laughing not sparring him from a chuckle.

Once their uncontrollable laughing had subsided, the sisters became somber, the weight of their eminent parting descending upon them. "I meant what I said last night. I'm sorry I didn't put your name on those signs. After Daddy… all I could think about was you. When you weren't on the bus I went lookin' for you. Then everything went down, the bus took off without me, and I had to run. I hoped that you had gotten onto the bus after I'd left, and when I found it, it was filled with walkers. It was hard not to expect the worst." Maggie wasn't crying and neither was Beth, but the tension was lifting word by word. "I was hopin' that if Glenn had gone to Terminus, then you'd be there too. But I think it hurt too much to write your name. When I think of Daddy I think of you, and when I think of you I think of Daddy. You are so much like him, Bethy, it's scary."

Beth chuckled under her breath. "We're both so stubborn."

Maggie laughed. "Yes, y'are." She spoke seriously again. "I'm so sorry, Beth."

"I know, Mags. I'm sorry for hittin' you. I was livin' on anger at the hospital; it was the only thing keepin' me alive. If I let go of the pain, I'd've let them kill me. But I couldn't. 'Had to get home."

The older sister pulled her into a tight hug, to which Beth reciprocated. The familiar smell of Maggie engulfed her and almost brought tears to her eyes. She had missed the scent of home after the prison fell, her father dead and her sister gone.

"This is it, isn't it?" Beth whispered into her shoulder.

"No," she confidently said. "Just going on a trip for a while." When they pulled away from each other, she added a sincere, "I'll see you in D.C."

Rick called them together to go over the plan for the last time, and within minutes, the white church bus was back on the road and the rest of the group was left behind to watch and hope that they could piece the world back together.

…

Beth stood in place long after the bus had disappeared from view, only being reminded of the time past when Daryl touched her shoulder, tossing his head back in the direction of the leftover group. The last group – Sasha, Ty, Bob, and Gabriel – said their goodbyes as the second group started to move. Judith was back in Beth's arms, tugging on a loose portion of her hair. As heavy as the baby was growing to be, Beth herself felt lighter with the girl in her arms. Rick wasn't the only one making up for lost time. The child's smile made a once-forgotten feeling bubble up in her stomach.

Daryl could see the blonde's eyes brighten as she stared at the baby, nibbling on her tiny fingers when she reached for her lips. He had almost been worried that she would never let anyone back into her heart after the hospital, but luckily she had proved him wrong.

She had proved everyone wrong these past few weeks – or had it been months? He didn't know anymore. All he knew was that the wind was getting colder and the leaves were starting to die. They were well into autumn and that meant that winter was on their heels. It would be a miracle if they made it to Washington before the first snowfall. Colder weather meant more supplies were needed, especially real shelter and heat. Once winter hit, sleeping out in the woods wasn't an option.

"I wonder if the cure is real," Beth's voice broke him out of his reverie.

"Nah. 'Think it's a load of-"

"Daryl!" She hissed, covering one of Judith's ears with her free hand.

"She can't even talk yet! She ain't listenin' to me neither!" He bit his cheek to keep his smile under control. "But really, ya think Eugene is tellin' the truth? 'Guy looks more like a beaver than a scientist t'me."

"Ya don't think he's got a cure?" She asked.

"Shouldn't be wonderin' if the cure is real. We should be wonderin' if the scientist behind the cure is real." Beth didn't reply, lost in thought. They had been so busy worrying about saving the world with a maybe-cure that they hadn't stopped to ponder if the man behind the cure was legit. And now that they were already gone for D.C., they would have to take it in good faith that Eugene knew what he was doing and could fix the world.

"Still," Beth said much later that day, after the group had settled into camp for the night. "I want to believe that it's real; Eugene and the cure. Even if the cure doesn't work, we'll be in a new place and maybe it'll be safer. Maybe…it'll be better."

Daryl didn't say anything, only smiled as he chipped away at some branches that would serve as new bolts. _She still believes,_ he thought excitedly. Her once-immovable faith had wavered after the hospital, but like everything else she had lost, it was coming back to her. If that was possible, then so was the cure to set the world right again. Daryl allowed himself to agree with her, looking past the unknowns to the great possibility that everything could work out fine for the entire world.

_Damn, this girl is rubbin' off on me. I'm gonna lose my reputation,_ he thought with a chuckle before falling off to sleep.

…

Daryl was watching Beth skin a rabbit – she had cut too deep last time so he had to re-teach her – when Abraham approached their fire. They had separated from the main camp in hopes of doing some more hunting before lights out. It was midday and chilly as November, and the light was already fading in the sky. When she caught sight of him, Beth's lips turned up into a bright smile to see her friend again, but something was up. They had left for D.C. just a few days ago and he was already back. That knowledge aside, the overall look of him was just plain wrong.

Abraham had always walked with a purpose, his eyes constantly set on the mission. But now, his eyes were watching his shoes, his hands empty, void of a weapon, and swinging lifeless at his sides. "Abraham?" Beth called to him carefully. The ginger-haired man jolted at the sound, finally looking up to see them. He froze in his tracks, a terrified look in his eyes like he was desperate for an exit route.

Beth stood to take a few steps in his direction, that unbeknownst smile still gracing her cheeks, the concern evident in her eyes. She was only a foot away from him when she noticed that his breathing had picked up and he was avoiding her gaze. "Abraham, what is it?" He didn't say anything for a long time, his mouth fighting with the words he couldn't bear to say. She was starting to pick up on his behavior, and her smile disappeared. "What happened?" With each second of silence that passed she took a step back. Daryl watched in apprehension, his hunter senses on high alert as Beth's demeanor changed.

"I'm sorry," Abraham finally whispered, barely audible.

Beth's hands began to shake. "Where is everyone?"

"Beth-"

"Where's Maggie?" She said, louder, her voice trembling.

Abraham tried to gather the right words as Beth continued to back away from him. "Ros- Rosita was drivin'… somethin' happened to the bus. She lost control. 'Bus flipped over onto the side. A herd of walkers tried to come through the windows… some got in. We were fightin' 'em back, bloody and dizzy. She was unconscious an' a walker was almost on 'er." He screwed his eyes shut at the memory. He let the words rush out like an apology, saying, "I couldn't get to her. I-I had one of them snappin' at my neck, and Maggie-she-"

"Don't," Beth begged, but Abraham continued.

"She was closest to Rosita and…she tried to-to protect her."

"Please…" she whimpered softly.

"She got bit, Beth," He finally said. "Kept fightin' until every one of those fuckers were dead. She bled out on the road, but she didn't seem to notice. It was quiet, I promise."

The blonde was still, staring at the ground with shimmering eyes, until her chest seemed to cave in. The breaths came in heavy waves as her world spun out of control, when suddenly it stopped. Daryl had been hanging back, giving them space but close enough to catch her if she were to fall. Her sudden calmness scared him.

"Where is she?" Her voice was steady again, but hard as stone.

"With the others. Glenn… took care of her… wanted to bury her," he said.

"Take me to her." And with that he turned back the way he came, leading them.

"I'll go back and tell Rick," Daryl said really to no one. Abraham and Beth were already leaving, and he didn't expect either to care if he didn't accompany this time. The rabbits they had worked so hard to collect were left behind, forgotten, to rot.

…

They walked almost five miles before they saw the white, church bus. It had felt like they had crossed the state of Georgia, but time was irrelevant. The smell of walkers was always the first thing anybody noticed going anywhere, and this time was no different. First it was the walkers, then Tara leaning against the back bumper of the fallen bus, sobbing her eyes raw, and finally, the small group watching Glenn dig a grave. Tara didn't see them approach but Eugene did, and he shuffled on his feet for something to say, but one look from his ginger caretaker stopped the urge. Rosita was crying silently, shaking like she was drowning in frozen water. Abraham went over to pull her into his big, burly arms. She clung to him desperately, wavering her stance like her legs were about to give.

Beth trudged toward Glenn's sweaty form. No one dared to warn her of what she would see; she _needed _to see.

Maggie was covered with a sheet from the neck down. If you looked past the dirt and grime, Maggie Greene was still beautiful, just as beautiful as she'd always been. Beth knelt down at her sister's side, reaching for the corner of the sheet. "Don't," she heard Glenn murmur gently. He didn't pause his incessant digging for a moment. But Beth complied, only when she saw the dark shadow of something gruesome where Maggie's torso was. She thought she needed to see the damage, but now, she really didn't want to. She wanted to keep the image of her beautiful sister in her mind forever, see her this way when she thought of her, not covered in blood.

The little group stood quietly in mourning when the burial had been completed. Glenn had fallen to his knees soon after the grave had been filled, the loss being too heavy on his shoulders. Rosita never stopped crying, muttering "I'm so sorry" over and over into Abraham's neck until it faded into the background noise of the surrounding forest. Beth was still shaking, a slight tremor in her fingers and her legs that made it difficult to stand. Glenn's weeping almost made her own dam break but she couldn't allow it. He had tried to tuck Maggie's wedding ring into Beth's palm earlier, but Beth forcefully refused it. He had her father's pocket watch to serve as a memory, and now he had her sister's ring.

Beth and Glenn had been perpetually locked in a stare with the mound of dirt piled up over Maggie's body for hours before she felt a hand on her shoulder. It made her jump, but to see Rick's soft, fatherly eyes comforted her. She looked over to see Daryl lifting her brother-in-law by the arm to drag him back to camp. Glenn was weak from sorrow but he went willingly, casting a parting glance over his shoulder to where Maggie would always lie.

"C'mon, Beth," Rick whispered. With a strong arm around each of their charges, Rick and Daryl led them back to camp as the sun was about to set. And the walk back was ten times longer than it was before.

…

It wasn't until Beth shot up with a gasp that she realized she'd fallen asleep. Her pounding heart told her she was having a nightmare, but she couldn't remember what it was about. She could make a couple of guesses, though.

Daryl was already awake, charged to keep an eye on her, while Rick did the same for Glenn. The man in question had settled for staring into the dying fire's embers until they had long since cooled in the late-fall air. The archer shifted closer to Beth when she saw her burst out of sleep. "Hey, hey. Easy, girl," he attempted to calm her. "It's just a dream."

Beth's lower lip shook, and everything was real again. And in a flash, she was up on her feet running off into the tree brush.

Daryl, of course, followed her, careful not to alert the others. "Beth, wait!" he hissed. Rick saw and remained where he was. He knew the behavior from his own experiences. The sudden reminder of Lori stabbed him through the chest, but he quickly shook it off for Glenn and Beth's sakes.

Beth ran and ran, moving blindly between trees, for no particular reason. She just needed to feel the wind, run as fast as she possibly could. But she couldn't run forever; eventually she ran out of breath and energy. She collapsed to a rolling stop on weak ankles and dirty knees until she was on all-fours in the middle of the woods, alone. She felt sick, wanted to throw up but there was nothing in her stomach left, so instead she dry heaved into the ground.

She heard Daryl's footsteps slide behind her and soon she was wrapped up in his broad arms. And then she started to hyperventilate. Huge gulps of air caused her upper body to rock forward and back against Daryl's hard chest. Hot tears overflowed and soaked her cheeks as everything fell apart. She could vaguely feel the scratch of her friend's stubble against her neck. One of his arms braced her shoulders from behind while the other was wrapped around her skinny waist. As she attempted to catch her breath, her hand reached out to grab anything that would keep her grounded and it chose his ankle blindly. She knew his personality was prone to avoid crying girls with embarrassment, but he held tight to her, whispering words into her ear. "Shh, I got ya, girl, I got ya. Breathe, sweetheart. You're okay. Just breathe with me. Shh, that's it. Just breathe, Beth. I got ya."

As if she could feel any worse, she began to wail. She was burning all over, sweating through her skin, itching to peel it all off just to stop the terror. When her father had died, she didn't have time to mourn him. They had to run, be safe. She had cried over the old man in short increments, but never truly mourned him. But this was not mourning. This was loss. This was loneliness. This was devastation.

"Pleeease," she sobbed into the sky. She didn't know why she did it – a long lost familiarity that she had forgotten – but the stars did not answer. And Maggie was still dead.

Daryl swept back her messy blonde locks with his cheek, placing hard kisses against the side of her wet face, shushing her as best he could.

The hyperventilating had almost dissipated but the ragged sobbing would not stop for what felt like hours. And all that time, the dark-haired man never wavered. He rocked her even after she had taken control of her breathing for the most part. Once in a while her grip on his ankle would tighten and a new wave of crying would start, getting quieter as time went by, until finally she made one last shaky sigh and dropped her head back onto his shoulder.

He felt her chest expand shallowly with each breath, and he worried that she had passed out from the panic attack. "Ya still with me?" he asked barely above a whisper.

She let a few exhales pass before answering. "I'm with you, Daryl." She turn in his grip to face him, and the look of her nearly broke his heart. She was paler than he'd ever seen her, tears and sweat soaking every patch of skin and bleeding through her clothes in some places, and her eyes red-rimmed and barely open. And she was still so beautiful.

Reluctantly, he suggested they go back to camp so as not to worry the others – whenever she was ready to go back, of course. Beth nodded weakly, struggling to get up off the forest floor. With the help of her redneck friend, she was back in his arms, her little hands gripping his shoulders and her forehead resting against his collarbone, while his calloused hands took purchase on her hips. She felt the press of his chin at the top of her head and she almost smiled at the gesture.

They took their time getting back to camp, being that Beth's legs were still weak from her panic attack. She was sure that her crying had woken the entire camp even with how much distance she had covered in her running, but when they arrived, everyone – save for Rick and Glenn – seemed to be asleep. She silently thanked them for pretending not to notice her inevitable breakdown.

Beth urged Daryl to get some sleep, assuring him that she was okay now. He regarded her for a minute before returning to his spot. The young blonde sat beside the otherwise unresponsive Glenn without a word. She rested her head on the Asian man's shoulder, and under her cheek, she felt all tension leave him. He hung a long arm over her own shoulders and pulled her just a bit closer. What Beth didn't see was a single tear tumble out of the man's eye, and drift down to where his lips had turned up into just the littlest hint of a smile.

He'd be okay. They would all be okay.

…

**Please don't hate me! Believe me, I cried while writing this scene, but I sincerely thing that this loss will bring so many great things in the future. I hope that you all enjoyed the second installment of Chloroform and will continue to follow the story. I have made many more plans for where the journey is going to go, so please make any suggestions for future chapters and I will do my best to include them.**

**Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a safe and delicious Thanksgiving!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Good day, everyone! Sorry this took me so long to write. I had finals and moving back home for the break and getting back to work and stuff. This one was a little harder to write so be warned.**

**Also, I'd like to say before we go on with the dark stuff that I think you all deserve a great, big "Thank you" for all your supportive comments about Chloroform so far. I read every single one of them and they all make me smile. I'm so happy that ya'll are enjoying it as much as I enjoy writing it for you. Again, thank you so much for all the support!**

…

There were good days; when Rick would practically beg Beth to take Judith into her arms, knowing that if anyone could stop the crying, it was her. The upset toddler would almost instantly calm, smiling with glazed eyes up at her surrogate mother, or reaching up to play with her cheeks as if to forcibly put a smile on Beth's face. Even in play, she still shined in the sun.

There were also bad days. For a few moments the baby would win the struggle, but soon the heavy loss would set in again and the soft grin disappears. More than once, Daryl thought to take the child from her hands, relieve her from the pain, but he resisted. Her sorrowful behavior was inevitable and needed to be felt. This road to being okay needed to be tread. She wasn't going to get better if she did nothing, even if it hurt. Everything was going to hurt for a while.

The people that had been on the bus had joined them again, no longer having a vehicle strained on their progress. Abraham was also in a funk – less driven than usual – but still tried to plan for finding another car so they could get to D.C. as soon as possible. Still, Rick added, at least for now they were all together again. He almost edited his words when he met Glenn's eyes. They _weren't_ all together. Glenn looked drained, defeated, but still not weak. Almost everyone thought that he would turn into a raging lunatic like Rick had when his wife died, but instead, he pushed on, doing his appointed jobs, keeping the group safe.

_We all got jobs to do._ That's what Maggie used to say…

He started getting nightly visits from the youngest Greene girl, not to talk or even meet each other's eyes; just to sit by each other and let the closeness serve as a life raft if one should need it. And sometimes, they did. It was quiet and subtle most of the time, almost unnoticeable to anyone else, but on rare occasion, they would need to venture into the forest to combat with a panic attack. After the one Beth had undergone the night of her sister's passing, she had been the one to hold Glenn together. His grief was stretching farther, the initial shock not hitting him until a few days had already passed.

Rick had made a quiet announcement to the two merged groups one night. "How 'bout we stay here for a few days more? Let Ty's group catch up with us and go to D.C. together… as a family." There had been no objections, only a few nods and the others stayed silent. The sheriff had caught a wary look in Eugene's eye but deduced it as that usual uncomfortable-ness that he constantly administered. It had taken a week and a half or so for the final group to cross their path. At first, they seemed excited to see their friends, but then noticed the somber, tired looks on their faces. Rick had taken them all to the side to explain Maggie's death and the loss of the D.C. bus. He added almost silently – so as not to anger a territorial Daryl – that Glenn and Beth were extremely fragile and they should refrain from giving their condolences for now.

Beth had become more withdrawn than when she had come back from the hospital. She attempted to smile at everyone as if to say "don't worry about me", but it never reached her eyes. Daryl knew her better than he cared to admit. He could see how broken she was, and it killed him that he could do nothing about it. He wanted to hold her close, tell her to cry it out, and shoulder everything for her, but he knew he just couldn't. She needed to be left to heal on her own, not given special treatment but not ignored either. He often huffed to himself, thinking, _how the hell am I supposed t'fix this? I don't know nothin' about women an' emotions._ But he would immediately call himself out on the lie. He knew Beth. He knew what the old Beth would want and he'd learned what new Beth would want. He scolded himself for the old versus new concept. Beth was Beth. Always would be.

He approached her one afternoon as she started digging a pit for a fire. "Hey," his voice stopped her. "Wanna go hunt?"

She seemed to ponder his abruptness, but replied with a course, "Sure". God, he hadn't really heard her speak for days.

They packed their bags – enough for two days, but Daryl didn't they'd be gone that long – and made sure Rick knew they were leaving. Rick gave the archer a pointed look and nodded, latching onto what he was doing. "Be careful," the father muttered to him, and without another word, the duo was trudging into the forest.

He stalked off into the trees, knowing that she would undoubtedly follow his every step. Beth found herself scrutinizing his back as he outwalked her. It was obvious that they weren't hunting for food, otherwise, he would have been more careful about where he stepped and his movements would be slow and fluid. They had walked what felt like three miles before the short blonde finally spoke up. "Daryl, what are we hunting?"

"Walkers," he said darkly without turning to her.

"Wa-" she started. "We're lookin' for trouble?"

"Yeah." Suddenly he paused, his hand coming up flat to signal her to stop. Up over a small hill, he could see a group of two…four restless walkers milling around a sloppy raccoon carcass. They had been finished with the meal for probably a day or so by the state of the decay and were now waiting for a new source of warm flesh. "Let's go," Daryl said as he stood up, swaggering off like he wasn't in danger. Beth tried to grab at his shirt to pull him back down to safety but he was already beyond her reach.

"Daryl, stop!" she hissed after him.

"Come on, you fuckers!" he yelled at them, throwing down his crossbow. As the growling creatures turned, their thirst evident and rotting teeth bared, Daryl tugged Beth up from behind the tree and thrust a machete into her hands.

"What the hell are you doin'?!"

"Go 'head, girl. Have at 'em." he shrugged. "I'm gettin' too old for this, so how 'bout ya take this one, yeah?"

"Daryl, I don't-"

"C'mon, this has gotta be easy for ya by now," he chided at her. "Don't tell me I gotta re-teach ya how t'kill. Must've lost yer touch after bein' in that hospital for so long." That last comment set her face in a chillingly angry glare and she stomped toward the closest walker, simply stabbing it through its jaw up into its skull. "_You don't know anythin'!"_ She screamed into the walkers face like it was Daryl. When she pulled the blade back, the dark blood sprayed onto her shirt and the side of her neck. Something came like a wave over Beth, rendering her dizzy and energetic, like her adrenaline was getting higher and higher.

Her hands began to shake and she let the machete slip out of her grasp. Through the mist in her head, she thought she heard Daryl call her name in worry but she was already going towards the next corpse. She wedged her ankle behind its feet and pushed its chest, effectively making the once-human creature fall flat on its back. It snarled up at her and Beth overlooked the walker. It was a woman with long black hair. Her eyes were swollen and white, while her teeth were yellow underneath barely dried blood stains dribbling down her chin. The skin was practically gray, only missing patches by her hairline and on her neck. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Daryl take out the last two walkers, and she took the chance to take her time with this one.

Beth stomped on the woman's neck with the heel of her boot first. The walker screamed and growled not seemingly concerned with the abuse. The sound clawed at the blonde's brain and she chose to slam down her foot on the woman's mouth next to stop the sounds. She brought down her foot repeatedly until her pant leg was soaked with blackened blood and the walker's head was split open and a pile of chunky mush. _Beth._ The screams didn't stop but they morphed. It sounded more and more human as she continued to step on the corpse. _Beth._ Her father and sister would be terrified of her right now, but who cares, they're both dead.

"Beth! That's enough." Daryl's hard arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind just like they had the last time they had been alone. Only this time, she turned in his grip and shoved him away with a loud grunt of frustration. Her breathing was heavy and shaking, but her eyes were vicious, like she was ready to kill him. She pushed him again. Daryl kept his hands up in surrender, not saying a word. The tiny-looking girl kept pushing and pushing him away until his back hit a tree. Her bloody hands became fists as she pounded on his chest hard. But she was growing weaker, and soon her hands were encased by his.

This seemed to anger her more with the way her face contorted, but instead of hitting him some more like he expected, she ripped her hands away and grasped his face to kiss him hard on the mouth. Both their lips were dry and hers were cracked, but neither one of them cared. Daryl wanted – _God_ he wanted – to press back, throw her against a tree and take her, but he gave her the reins and the power to do with him what she wanted, needed. Everything about this was about need. The young girl had held on for too long and Daryl knew better than anyone that bottling shit up could eat you alive.

The dark-haired man resisted the urge to fully kiss her back, only doing as much as she would allow him. Her hard lips were trembling under his skin. She tried to hide it by repeatedly kissing him, but soon let a whine leave her mouth. She pulled back just a hair from his lips. Daryl's eyes opened at the feeling of something wet trailing down his cheek into his beard. "I have to be strong," she groaned underneath her tears.

"Hey," he tipped her head back so he could see her reddening eyes. "It's only me here. Ya ain't gotta be strong for me." Her eyes clenched shut as he tucked her head under his chin and held her close, riding out the shaking in her bones. Her nails dug into his shoulder blades – it actually kind of hurt but he pretended to ignore it.

"I'm tryin' to be okay for Glenn but all I wanna do is cry and sleep," she gasped between sobs, muffled by his vest.

"I know."

"I'm so tired of losin' people I love."

"I know, I know."

"I hit her so hard!" (Daryl had to refrain from saying, _"Yes you did and it was awesome._") "I was so mad at her; I hated her so damn much I thought I'd hate her forever."

"She hurt ya bad. Ya had the right to be mad."

"I don't hate her anymore."

"She knew that, Beth."

He consoled her for what felt like an hour. The sobs slowly died down to even breaths. Her shoulders drooped and her head rested against his chest in exhaustion. Daryl stroked her hair away from her face so that she could breathe easier. "I need to… sit down… for a minute," she sighed. He slide them both down against the bark of the tree until she was curled up in his lap, breathing through the pains in her chest. He said nothing, just letting her work through her sorrows on her own, until she murmured into his shirt. "Is this why you brought be out here all of a sudden?"

"'Thought ya needed somethin' to beat up."

"What, like you?" she almost laughed. He pouted his lips, knowing it would make her smile. He could deal with being made fun of by her if it made her feel better.

"Hey, it works, don't it?" he grumbled.

"Heh, it kinda did, actually…" Her voice was trailing off as if she was about to fall asleep.

"Don't fall asleep on me now, girl," he said. "We gotta make camp soon, before it gets dark."

"I know," she staggered to her feet, offering Daryl her hand. He took it and stood in front of her, overlooking her face for anything unsettling but found it clear. Her eyes and cheeks were still wet from crying and her nose was shiny and red, but overall she looked just as beautiful as she always did. He couldn't resist. He leaned forward to press his lips to the corner of her eye, tasting her salty tears. When he pulled back, she was staring up at him with dreamy eyes, but maybe she was just tired from the little adventure they'd just had.

…

She didn't have much trouble getting to sleep that night. It was the staying asleep that she had difficulty with. She lurched up gasping for air after only being asleep for what Daryl had to guess was two or three hours. The fire was still smoldering when she choked on Daryl's name in the darkness of the woods. Daryl had been keeping a watchful eye on the night before this. At hearing his name, he rushed to her side, rubbing his hands over the raised goosebumps on her arms. "It's okay, Beth. I'm here."

"He-" She let nonsense words slip from between her lips as she came back from her nightmare. "Gor-" She almost said his name, before stopping to meet Daryl's eyes, but it was too late; he'd caught it. There was more to her stay than she had told him weeks ago, and the scars were not the end of it.

"Beth, what…" he started to ask, but clamped his mouth shut. He looked away, his brow furrowed and his jaw clenched. "I'm sorry, Beth…" he started. "But I have t'know what happened to you back there. At the hospital."

"Daryl, I-"

"Please," he whispered. Something about the way his voice shook made Beth sway inside her skin. She had been hell bent on taking the hospital events to her grave, but she could feel it eating away at her since she had been rescued. That sickly taste in her mouth was always there, though sometimes she was able to ignore it. She could tell that Daryl had been mulling over her secrets, keeping his distance from the topic, since she showed him her scars, but now neither of them could go on pretending that they never happened and that they can just disappear over time.

"Okay," Beth breathed. She sucked in a heavy breath before diving into her recent past. "While I was at the hospital, I learned pretty quick that the hospital was worse than what it seemed." She told him about how there were dozens of officers and dozens of wards, or test subjects, but only a handful of doctors. With each word Beth spoke, her eyes grew darker and darker.

"One night, I was tryin' to sleep and I heard screamin' from down the hall. When I went to see what it was, I saw one of Dawn's men bent over a ward. I was about to go in there and beat the shit out of him – I swear I was angry enough to do it – another one, Matthews, grabbed me and pushed me into a room and locked the door." Beth stopped to bite her lips. She refused to cry. She didn't cry anymore. "He touched me…all over. He went to take off my pants and I turned and scratched him, made him bleed right here." She touched the curve of her neck, from right under her ear to her collarbone. "He slapped me and dragged me to Dawn's office. That _fucker_ told her that I'd attacked him for no reason… So she cuffed me to the wall and took a belt to my back. 'Good old-fashioned punishment' is what she called it."

Daryl was staring down at his tight fists shaking in his lap. He wanted to destroy something, break a window, hear the shattering of glass, but he needed to hear her story and be there for her. The guilt was already festering that he couldn't protect her when all this was happening.

"That was the last time I cried – at least before Maggie… I'd never been hurt like that before. The next day was the first time I tried to run, and they punished me for that, too. After the second attempt to escape, I figured it was time to actually be smart about it. So I tried to stay low until I had an opening. I worked with Noah a lot." The fear turned to sadness at the remembrance of her friend. "We made a plan to go down the elevator shaft to escape though the basement. We made it to the fence before they caught us. It was chaos getting us back into the building. I was screaming, punching anything I could reach, not really seeing where they were taking me. Not until I was in Dawn's office again." She shook her head at the memory, starting to see it in real time. "I wasn't scared of her anymore…"

_Dawn stalked up until she was inches away from Beth's face, two wolves on their hackles, glaring into the face of their opposition. Dawn was the first to speak. "Do you have _any_ idea what you've done? A stunt like that will cause an uproar and I can't have that kind of shit in my hospital."_

"_Good!"Beth said. "Anything to get your head out of your ass. Do _you_ realize that your cops are raping the other wards?! You're so blind that you can't see that every single one of your men is corrupt!"_

"_I do know about them."_

"_Then what the fuck?! How can you stand by and-"_

"_It's not my problem," Dawn said simply._

_Beth stared at her wide-eyed with astonishment. "Not your problem? You're supposed to be looking after these people, aren't you? I thought that was what your whole mission was. If you're really ignoring serious shit like this then you're stupider than I thought-"_

_A hard slap connected with Beth's cheek, opening up the stitches and leaking blood. Beth's head whipped back to face her enemy. "I'm not scared of you, Dawn," she spat. "You wanna beat me again? Go ahead. I don't care. 'Don't change the fact that this place is still a bullshit factory."_

_Before she had time to blink, the narrow-eyed officer pulled back her arm and her fist connected with Beth's jaw, bringing the girl down to her knees. The blonde coughed her blood onto the floor, and then released a scream when Dawn's boot came down hard on her forearm with a loud snap. While she clutched her broken arm to her chest, Dawn's fingers undid her belt and unlaced it from the pant loops. Beth was huffing out air, trying her hardest not to cry, when the belt slashed her shoulder blade open. The pain was getting to be too much, so she didn't hold back her screams as the officer tore into her skin over and over again. She could feel the hot blood dripping over her. Dawn never paused too long between lashes, never giving her a chance to recover._

"It felt like hours before she stopped. I was almost unconscious by then. She called O'Connell over to drag me back to my room. He left me lying on the floor, bleeding. It wasn't until morning that Dr. Edwards came in to patch me up." Beth looked down at her fingers quietly. Daryl still hadn't said anything. He hadn't gotten up to punch a tree like she expected him to. As surprised as she was at his silence, she appreciated it. She needed to get it all out, speak the truth and then forget about it and move forward.

"After that, it was just trying to avoid being alone with an officer, which was difficult when they seek you out." She saw Daryl shifting uncomfortably. Knowing him this long meant she knew what it meant when he did this. He wanted to ask, but didn't want to ask either. "I don't want to keep anything from you, Daryl," she whispered softly into the dark. He turned to meet her eyes for the first time since she'd started.

"A few days before you and Carol showed up, I was raped by one of them." She said it so simply Daryl was taken aback. "One of them, this guy called Gorman, found me in my room. The sick fuck forced a lollipop into my mouth. When I told him to get away from me, he got angry. Pushed me against a wall and…" She shook her head. What would have followed her words was clear; she didn't need to elaborate this part. "I knew that I couldn't tell anyone. Dawn wouldn't do anything even if she believed me, which I knew she wouldn't if Gorman could make up something about me wanting it or something. So I kept quiet." She smiled fondly at him. "And then you found me."

"I was too late," he mumbled.

"Hey," she touched his shoulder. "I'm still alive. You weren't too late."

"But it's my-"

"Daryl Dixon, if you say it's your fault, I swear I will tackle you and not in the fun way." She laughed lightly but he didn't return it. "Daryl, you didn't know. You didn't kidnap me. They did. You had no part in it. If you hadn't taught me how to fight, I wouldn't have made it out of there. It's thanks to you that I survived."

"I shouldn't've touched ya like I did. I shouldn't've touched ya at all!" He got up on his feet, taking a step away from her.

"Well, that's a mean thing to say. Didn't you want to touch me?"

"Of course, I did, Beth! But if I had known…"

"So I lose my worth after being raped? I'm not touchable anymore?"

"Beth, that's not-"

She aggressively jabbed a finger in his direction, getting more and more frustrated. "You seem to forget that I approached you every single time we've kissed. I made the first moves of my own free will. I've wanted to kiss you since we drank moonshine and screamed at each other. I saw the look you gave me at the funeral home, Daryl. You wanted to kiss me then, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did-"

"Then why am I so disgusting now that you know another man has touched me? Should I also have told you that I lost my virginity to Zack? Or that I used to touch myself in the showers at the prison? Is it a problem that I'm not the pristine little virgin that you thought I was?"

"It's not about that, Beth! If ya would just shut up for two seconds, I could tell ya that I feel like shit for touchin' ya if it brought up bad memories from that asshole that touched you!" He did his best to keep his voice level in case walkers picked up on the volume and crashed the party. The look on Beth's face was a mix of shocked and confused. "I didn't wanna give ya more nightmares than ya already do just so that I could have the privilege of bein' close to ya. I wanted ya to know that ya were safe with me. An' then you said that they didn't touch ya like that." He shook his head, disappointedly. "That's what ya told me; that they didn't touch ya. Ya lied to me. But that's not what hurts, Beth. I went that whole time thinkin' it was okay to be with ya like I was when it wasn't. Now, I feel like I've been the one rapin' you."

"It's not like that," she stepped closer to him until their chests were almost touching. The heat was radiating off of him and it was like standing in front of a fireplace on Christmas Eve. "I wanted you to touch me, to kiss me. I still do. All the time, I'm thinkin' about what we could be doing together. I feel selfish sometimes for wishing that we were alone like we were before."

"I do, too," Daryl gave into the sentiment.

"Have we been moving too fast with all this?" She suddenly asked.

"As opposed to the old world? Probably. But I'd probably be burned at the stake for bein' close to a young girl like you, so we're already breakin' ground," he chuckled under his breath. "Should we slow down?"

"Maybe," she said. "Just a little."

"Alright," Daryl stuck his hand out towards her for a handshake. "Hello, ma'am. Name's Daryl Dixon. Could I skin you a squirrel sometime?"

Beth's angelic laugh resurfaced for the first time in weeks. "I would love a squirrel, but I prefer snake jerky and moonshine."

They laughed for a while, mocking the old dating game, until it got quiet and they realized they were still holding hands. Beth's lips parted as the heat crawled up from their joined hands into her cheeks. Daryl's eyes were analyzing the situation like the hunter he was. The blonde could see the exact moment that he stopped. His eyes matched hers, his pupils dilated and his shoulders relaxed. "I'd like t'kiss ya now," he sighed.

No words would come out of her mouth, so she just nodded. As slowly as he could manage, he met her lips with his, loving the way his stomach flopped, just like the first time they'd kissed. He felt Beth exhale against him. Her mouth opened slightly to deepen the kiss, her sweet taste on his tongue. He couldn't get enough. But he had to stop, or else he'd lay her down and taste every inch of her. He pulled back carefully, his dark eyes meeting her hooded ones. "Get some sleep," he told her. "We leave in the morning."

She nodded slowly, the exhaustion kicking in. She crawled back over to her blanket by the long-dead fire pit and quickly fell asleep, knowing that with Daryl close by, her nightmares wouldn't plague her tonight.

…

Tyreese's group approached Rick to brief him on what had happened when they were separated. Sasha was stiff and cold-eyed as Ty delicately stated that Bob had been bit soon after the second group had left the church. They had been planning to leave in the morning, but were woken up by a scream from outside. Bob had been on watch that night, and upon rushing outside to help, they discovered that he had been fighting off a handful of walkers. He had been trying to take them out with only his knife but it had been knocked out of his hand. He was bit in the shoulder, crippling him to his knees, which had cleared the way for more walkers to get at his leg. They had torn into his calf until they had almost reached bone by the time Sasha and Tyreese had come to save him.

"The fever got to him in a couple of hours," Sasha softly added. "He was gone before sunrise." She stalked off to sit beside Michonne and Carl. Tyreese looked worriedly at her for a moment, before returning his gaze to Rick. "She's been puttin' all her anger into killin' walkers and tryin' to teach Gabriel to fight."

"How's he been doin'?" Rick asked skeptically.

"About as bad as you can guess. Still scared of everything, but I think he's tryin' to pull his weight. He killed a few the other day, but he's been shakin' like a leave since then."

"He'll get it," Rick patted the huge man on the shoulder and made to leave, but Tyreese stopped him.

"Rick," he said carefully. "I think there's somebody followin' us." Upon hearing this, Rick's heart-rate quickened. When could they just get a break? "On the trees, there're marks – directions we take. They're already there by the time we passed them, so they must be either followin' the bus, or your group."

"It wouldn't be one of us. We'll spread the word; keep an eye on the surroundings, see if we can catch us a spy," Rick planned cautiously. "Ain't nobody gonna bring this crumblin' group to its knees any time soon." The sheriff saw Daryl and Beth come out of the tree line with a belt of squirrels on the man's shoulder. It wasn't much but it was something, and they were back safe, and Beth seemed a little brighter than how she'd left. "We gotta be strong and smart. With the people we got, that shouldn't be a problem."

…

That night, the reunited group slept close together, holding the pieces of their family from breaking any further. Beth and Daryl were stoking the fire when the blonde remembered that she hadn't joined Glenn yet, but when she looked over to him, Tara had taken a seat next to him. They were talking, and judging by the slight smile on Glenn's face, it wasn't about Maggie. It was about something good. The two girls met eyes over the flames and Beth nodded gratefully. "Stayin' with me tonight?" Daryl asked, immediately regretting it and stumbling back on his words. "I-I mean, yer not… ya know, gonna sleep by Glenn t'night?"

"Yeah," she smiled up at him, not missing a single word he'd said. "I'm stayin' with you."

He knew he'd been caught so he gave in to the happiness of being able to be close to her. They fell asleep quickly, with him on his back and her tucked into his side, the shared body heat lulling them to finally peaceful rest. Daryl's final thought before drifting into a dream was, _So this is what it's like to be happy._

…

The group's quiet night ended just a few hours later, when yells and grunts resounded throughout the camp. Rick and Daryl were the first to shoot up from sleep, scrambling for their weapons. At her makeshift pillow's sudden movement, Beth jolted awake as well, unsheathing the knife on her hip. They all ran to Tyreese's post for the nightly watch, where they found him holding the back of a boy's shirt collar and pressing the blade of a machete against his neck. "Hold still! Ya wanna get cut? So shut up!" Ty saw the three of them approaching him. "This kid was the one followin' us since the church, I'm sure of it!"

"You don't know what you're talking about, man! Let me go!" the kid shouted.

Beth was trying to force herself fully awake by shaking her head and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, but the sound of the kid's voice was the thing that woke her completely. She practically bolted toward Tyreese and the boy.

"Hey, stay away from 'im, girl!" Daryl grabbed for her arm, but she slipped out of it.

"No, wait a second," she breathed. She was in the boy's face, scrutinizing his features, every purple bruise. One of his eyes was swollen until it was almost completely shut and the bridge of his nose was cut, along with his lip. He met her eyes and almost looked away, but suddenly saw it.

"Beth?" he said. Ty lowered the machete and released his shirt at the sound of her name.

"It_ is_ you, Noah!" She threw her arms around his shoulders in a massive hug, which he reciprocated.

"Oh my god, you got out! I thought they'd killed you!" The dark, beaten boy held her tightly.

"That's what I thought about you! After they caught us." She pulled away to look at his injuries. "Did Dawn do that to you?"

"Nah, it was O'Connell this time. It was worse before but I'm sure I still look like shit. Did Dawn do that damage?" He pointed to the cast.

"Yup," she nodded, staying vague even when they were both abused at the hands of the same people.

"God, it's so good to see you alive, Beth," Noah sighed. He seemed to remember that his presence had pretty much woken up the entire camp, and pointed to Daryl's intimidating, shadowed form watching his every move. "'this the guy you were talkin' about?"

"Oh! Yeah, Noah this is Daryl. Daryl, Noah."

"'You the kid that tried to get Beth out?" Daryl growled at him, effectively making the boy shiver.

"Um…yes?" He didn't know what the right answer was so he took a shot in the dark.

Daryl stalked forward, every step threatening Noah to back up like a cornered animal. They stood almost nose to nose, until Daryl suddenly smirked and said, "Thanks."

"Oh, stop it, Daryl," Beth playfully shoved him away. "C'mon, let's get you a blanket."

"Now hold on, Beth," Rick stopped her. "We need to talk to Noah for a minute… alone. I promise he can stay, but we just need to go over some things."

"Of course, sir. I'll tell you anything you want to know," Noah replied, almost darkly, as if he already knew what Rick was going to ask him. Daryl and Ty went along as they walked off, away from curious ears. Beth warily returned to her spot, which in spite of being near the fire pit, had gone cold.

…

"How many walkers have you killed?"

"About ten since the hospital. None before that. I was with my dad before and he insisted on doing all the killing."

"How many people have you killed?"

"Two."

"Why?"

"They were cops from the hospital. They were trying to keep me from escaping."

"Why keep you there?" Rick asked incredulously.

"They told us they were working on a cure for the fever, but they kept a few more serious things secret. The doctors were experimenting on the time a bite takes to spread and the gap where treating it is effective. Like if you were bit on your hand, how much time do you have to cut off the hand and stop the spread of infection? They were using us as wards – damn slaves, more like – but they failed to mention that we were also being lined up as test subjects, too."

"When we went in to get Beth," Daryl interjected. "they'd belted her down on a gurney with a walker on a leash almost on 'er."

"That's how they did the 'procedure'. Then they locked the subject up and waited for them to turn, too scared to actually treat the wound, so they died and turned anyway." Noah shook his head. "Pretty sure they were just a bunch of sadistic psychopaths."

"Who was in charge?" Rick asked.

"That woman cop, right? Dawn something?" Daryl added.

"I mean, yeah, Dawn was in charge of us, but she had a boss. I overheard her and Gorman talking about the boss visiting soon, something about checking on the results. Never saw him, but he seemed to scare them just in conversation. Can't imagine what he's like in person."

"Think he's mad we came in and wrecked his science project?" Daryl referred to Rick. The once-sheriff seemed to think hard on the possibility of another incursion. They weren't in the best shape for a fight, but then again, this nameless boss of theirs had no way of finding them, plus he probably wouldn't even know what happened to his dirty establishment. It couldn't possibly lead back to them.

"We keep our eyes open," Rick finalized. "Keep to the mission for Washington. If they're really thinkin' about comin' after us, we'll outrun them. No one is takin' any more of us down, that's for damn sure."

"One last thing," Tyreese cut in when they all had risen to stand and go back to bed. "Why the tree markers? Why track us if you knew that Beth was here? Why not just come to us directly, instead of creepin' around?"

"Tree markers? I thought that was you guys. That's how I found ya'll. I thought it was people leading to a sanctuary, and then I saw your group. Those markers were there before I caught up." Noah looked at them confused. The hairs on the back of Rick's neck stood up and suddenly, a threat was closer than they anticipated.

…

A sour taste was clinging to Daryl's tongue. It had poisoned his mouth since the previous night, when Noah had told them about the tree marks not being of his doing. Rick had asked them not to say anything about them yet, just to make sure everyone was being extra vigilant with the surroundings. His fingers were twitching and tapping his crossbow, his heart racing beating harder than usual. This danger was nothing the group had not already dealt with before on multiple occasions, but the fact that they couldn't see it or detect it terrified him. He didn't like not knowing what he was up against, and it was even worse to know that if Tyreese hadn't brought up the tree markers, he would never have known they were being followed. Daryl was a damn good tracker and overall master of the hunt, so how could he possibly have missed something this huge? He kicked himself mentally for being so wrapped up in his little world with Beth that he'd let his guard down and put her and the rest of the group in danger.

"Daryl?" Beth's hand touched his bicep to break him out of his reverie.

"Hmm?" he hummed.

"Whatever you're worryin' about, it'll be okay," she smiled lightly. He let himself return the grin and nodded. No use in beating himself up, he remembered. All he had to do was protect the family, and everything else would slide into place. That's what Beth would tell him anyway.

…

Gabriel approached Beth later that day when Daryl had gone off to help Rick look for a water source so they could refill their water bottles. She had been, honestly, surprised that he had come up to her of his own volition after the last talk they had shared on the porch of the church.

"Hey," he said with a sad smile.

"Hi," she eyed him carefully, hoping that he wasn't about to spew some shit about her sister, because she was not in the mood to hear it and she was too tired to be tolerant.

"What you said back at the church… I just wanted to tell you that you're wrong."

"Excuse me?"

"God _is_ still listening. He heard my prayers for forgiveness and sent your group to help me come clean. He sent Eugene to set the world back to normal and he sent your group to take him to Washington D.C., too. Don't you think so?"

"I suppose that's possible."

"And he sent Daryl to you," he said suddenly. She gaped at him, almost making him crack a smile. "Or maybe he sent you to Daryl. Either way, you two need each other." As she slowed her pace, he quickened his and soon he was gone from her side. Beth's thoughts began to run rampant. Did she need him? In a way, yes. If she was still the weak, little girl she once was, she would need him to survive, need him to protect her from the horrors that exist in the world now. But now that she was stronger, she could take care of herself better. But something about needing him made her want to say, "Yes, of course!" without thinking it through, like no matter the situation, she would still need him. She knew her connection with Daryl had been building since the fall of the prison, and since she had been rescued, it had erupted like a volcano that had practically overtaken her. They had moved so fast since the hospital, she recalled. Maybe all that time that they had bypassed would solidify in her mind the things that Gabriel could see but she couldn't just yet.

…

"Eugene?" Tara's voice stood out in the silence as they walked the path toward a highway. Eugene had been lagging the whole way – Daryl guessed that was what happened when you're traveling through the apocalypse with a group of scary semi-killers – but Tara taking notice of him made the group turn to see him. "Are you okay? You're lookin' kinda green, man."

The creepy-looking man decided then was a good time to lean over and puke. The group collectively groaned and looked away from the sight. Reluctantly, Rick took the initiative to go up to him and Tara, who was helping him, coaching him with, "Get it all out, bro."

"Do you need us to stop?" Rick asked Eugene. He nodded shakily before coughing up jerky again on his hands and knees. "Alright," the leader turned back to the others. "Looks like we're stoppin' for a bit."

"No, no way," Abraham grumbled loud enough for the entire party to hear. "We've been stoppin' and stoppin' for months since Houston. Ya'll don't get that time is runnin' out to fix this world! We gotta keep goin' until we reach D.C.!" He turned to Glenn and spoke softer, "I'm sorry for what happened. I really am. But we can do Maggie justice by ending this wave of shit." To the others he said, "We can do everyone we've lost justice by getting Eugene to D.C. as soon as possible so he can work his magic."

"Abraham, he can barely stand," Tara said carefully.

"Then I'll take a group out to find some vehicles and come back for him."

"I'm up for that," Daryl volunteered to go. "Ya comin'?" he asked Beth.

"Sure," she nodded up at him. _Of course._

"I'll go, too," Ty spoke up.

"Stop," Eugene's ragged voice called out, startling everyone. They had barely heard his voice since Terminus that they almost forgot that he had a voice to begin with. He'd stopped puking to hear their plans being formed and was attempting to get to his feet. "I can no longer allow this mission to continue on the basis of a lie."

"What're ya talkin' about? Let's go-"

"I'm not a scientist, okay?!" The man yelled.

Everything stopped around them. Eugene's confession silenced any sound that any living creature could make. No one breathed, squirrels ceased their scurrying, and the cicadas quieted. The group seemed to be processing the new information. Sasha dropped her gun and covered her mouth with her trembling hands. The sound of the weapon hitting the ground seemed to snap the group out of their stupor and suddenly everything was so loud.

Abraham was the first one to break the silence. "What the hell are ya talkin' about?"

"I lied. I'm not a scientist…" His lower lip was shaking and his breathing was shallow. His eyes flickered between all of them, finally settling on the ground, where no one could judge him. "I don't know how to stop it."

"No… no, you are a scientist! I've seen the things you can do!" Rosita cut in.

"I just know things."

Glenn shifted on his feet. "You just…know things?"

"What the fuck does that mean?" Daryl glared at him.

"I know I'm smarter than most people," he started. "I know I'm a very good liar and I know that I needed to get to D.C."

"Why?" Tyreese asked.

"Because I do believe that locale holds the strongest possibility of survival… and I wanted to survive. If I could cheat some people into takin' me there, well… I just reasoned that… I'd be doin' them a solid, too, considerin' the perilous state of the city of Houston, the state of everythin'." He finally stopped talking. Abraham slowly went down to crouch, the realization that he'd been played since Houston finally hitting him. Everything was a lie.

"See, I lost my nerve as we grew closer. And the reality of getting' to our destination… and disclosin' the truth on the matter became some truly frightenin' shit, I took it upon myself to slow our roll…" He looked up to meet Abraham's eyes. "So I put crushed glass in the fuel tank of the bus."

Tara looked at him incredulously. "That could have killed all of us." When he didn't respond, she added, "_You…_ could have _killed_… _all_ of us!"

"The possibility of an explosion was slim with the amount and size of the glass, but for the sake of slowing the mission so that I would have more time to think of a better idea, I took the risk. But now, I see that there are no longer any agreeable options."

Glenn was pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes, clawing fingers through his hair, as if he wanted to scream and fight but was trying to keep himself in check. Daryl was doing no better. He paced the side of the path, eventually throwing his bag and crossbow down in frustration. "Great," he muttered. "Fuckin' great." Tara had her eyes downcast, the disappointment clear on her face. Rick was doing the same, still having difficulty believing that the entire mission was a ploy. The whispers of a prayer left Gabriel's lips, but no one was paying any attention. Everyone else was standing still, their eyes on Eugene.

"People died… trying to get you here," Rosita's voice broke through.

"I'm aware of that. Stephanie, Warren, Pam, Rex, Roger, Josiah, Dirk, and Josephine." He listed off their dead. Pausing before continuing. "Bob… and Maggie, too…"

At the sound of her sister's name, Beth bolted forward. When she was almost on top of the false-scientist, she threw a hard punch that landed on Eugene's jaw, catching him off-guard. He wavered on his feet, but Beth caught him by fisting his shirt. Her eyes were wild and even though she was still only around twenty years old (they had stopped tracking birthdays long ago), she still was a terrifying sight to behold.

"You FUCKING ASSHOLE!" she screamed in his face, punching him again. Rick, Glenn, and Daryl ran up to stop her, calling her name and urging her to back up. She brought his face close again for another hit. "Maggie died trying to keep you alive, you piece of shit!" Another punch caused his nose to run with blood. "She's dead because of you! And your fucking bullshit mission!"

"Beth, stop!" Glenn spoke over her from behind, his arms around her waist and pulling her back. She squirmed, but eventually, they pulled Eugene out of her reach and he fell on his hands and knees again. Daryl was in front of her, trying to get a handle on her flailing fists so she didn't hurt anyone else. Surprisingly, he was struggling to hold her down.

"Let go of me! He got my sister killed!" She somehow weaseled her arm out of Daryl's grip long enough to reach for a gun holstered in Daryl's waistband. As she began to raise it into alignment with Eugene, Daryl quickly knocked it out of her hand and kicked it away from her reach. "Dammit! I'm gonna kill you, I swear it!"

"That's enough!" Rick outstretched his arms between the furious blonde and the liar. "Daryl, Glenn, get Beth away from here. Calm her down," he commanded.

The two men dragged her, kicking and screaming, into the woods. Once they were a safe distance out of sight, Glenn let her go. She was about to race off, but was shoved back by her brother-in-law's hand gripping her shoulder. "Beth, just stop!"

"What the fuck, Glenn! Why aren't you mad? Did you not hear what he fucking did?!" She threw her arm out in the direction they came from.

"Of course, I did! We all did!"

"Then _especially _what the fuck! It's his fault Maggie's gone! Don't you get that?"

"Eugene didn't make that walker attack her-"

"But he was the one that made the bus crash! He set the ball rolling and got her killed! That was your wife-"

"Beth!" Daryl scolded her. She was going too far, too fast. She was going down into the void again, and he couldn't let her lose sight of herself again. He had just seen a glimmer of her hours ago and he vowed that he would protect her from harm, whether physical, mental, or emotional. Surprisingly, she turned to look at him – even if it was in a furious glare. But there was something under that fire. Normally, he would tell her that having that kind of anger could save her life someday, could keep her breathing, but there was something there that scared him. A darkness that he had seen in terrible people in his past, and now it was growing in her.

He stepped down from the fight.

But Glenn quickly filled the space by stepping up close to the short blonde girl with a hard, steady frown on his face. "That's enough. We've all taken a hit from this, alright? There's no doubt in that. But killing Eugene won't solve anything. And I'm sorry, but it's not gonna bring Maggie back." He took a breath before resuming. "I'm angry, too. I was on that bus when it went down. I watched as my wife died right in front of me. But when I think back, I remember that she died saving someone. It didn't even faze her that she'd been bit. All she knew was that Rosita was in danger and she had to step up to plate." He cupped Beth's paled cheeks in his hands. "She died to save us."

Without tears, Beth said softly, "She's so reckless."

Glenn cracked a smile and took her into a tight hug that she couldn't help leaning into. All her energy to attack Eugene had simmered away and now all she wanted to do was glare at the sky and wonder how things had gotten so shitty. She relaxed into her brother-in-law's embrace. "I know. I miss her, too," he added.

Daryl stood by silently. Glenn and Beth were still family, closer family than the group itself. They were brother and sister, with or without Maggie around. He watched as the darkness he had begun to see in her eyes dissipated as she gave in. As the days went by, he could see pieces of himself in the innocent girl. Aside from the scars she had shown him, she was still keeping things under wraps and he knew better than anyone how that could destroy a person. He quickly realized he had been worrying more about her than the group's safety since the hospital. He didn't think he had raised his crossbow all day. He just wanted to be close to her, make her happy for just a moment.

An almost unnoticeable _snap_ echoed somewhere in the forest, bringing Beth and Daryl to attention. Glenn pulled back from the hug, feeling Beth stiffen in his arms. "What? What is it?" he asked.

"A branch snapped. Didn't you here it?" Beth whispered.

"No. I don't have super hearing like you two."

"Somethin's up," Daryl mumbled. "We need to get back. Now."

"That's a good idea," a new voice drawled behind them. When they turned, they were met with the barrel of a gun pointing in their direction, held by a stocky, bald-headed man in a gray sweatshirt and a leather jacket. "Let's all g'back t'gether. The others're waitin'. _Move._"

Daryl's mind began to reel. If there really were others back at the camp, then there would be no point in leading the man elsewhere. But if he was bluffing, he could be leading him to the others and putting them in more danger. It would be safer to just disappear into the forest than to rejoin with the group.

"I said _move!_ We already have the rest 'a yer buddies, so don't even think about wanderin' off."

"How do ya know who you've got is ours?" Beth spat.

"Beth!" Daryl hissed her name under his breath. But he could see that she was shaking behind all that venom in her voice. She was scared.

"Do you want me to shoot you?" The man said calmly, clicking back the hammer.

"No! No. We'll go." Glenn put his hands up and began walking back in the direction of camp. "Come on, guys."

When they arrived back on the path they had first heard Eugene's confession, they saw that every single member of their group had their hands zip-tied and were kneeling on the ground in a line. They glared up at their captors; a group of eight men with guns. One of them was collecting their friends' weapons from the ground in front of them. "Ahh!" a man that was presumably the leader by the confident way he was standing said. "Welcome back, you three! Sorry we started the fun without you; I just couldn't help myself." The boss had black hair, slicked back greasily and he donned a thick, leather jacket. He towered over his men, but the strangest and most eerie thing Beth picked up on, was that he was smiling brightly.

The bald man behind them jabbed Beth's back with the gun. "Drop yer weapons or I shoot the girl." Daryl growled as he pulled his bowie knife out of its sheath on his belt and tossed it down. Glenn dropped his gun and knife as well. Beth moved to remove her own tools, but was shocked to feel grubby hands reaching around her hip to touch her hanging blade holster. She shivered as he trailed his thumb across the top of her jeans before clutching the hilt and taking it from her. She glanced to her right to see if Daryl had witnessed the man touching her. He was clenching his teeth. His raised hands became fists shaking with rage and she knew he had seen it. She took hold of his wrist, as if to remind him that she was there and it would be okay. (Even if she wasn't sure she believed it.)

Quickly, the man's hand was gone from her and she relaxed a bit. Their captor pulled out a handful of zip ties and started on Daryl and Glenn's hands. He was about to tie Beth, when the boss said, "Wait a sec, Jake." He trudged forward until he was right in her face. Her two friends standing beside her watched with baited breath as he closed in. He regarded her like he was choosing a book off a shelf, and his eyes made bile rise in her throat. He suddenly took her chin in his fingers, chuckling when Daryl leapt toward him, only to be stopped by Jake. "Down, boy," Boss condescended him. "Just getting a good look." After a couple more moments, the man pulled back and said, "Yep, she's comin' with us." He grabbed Beth's upper arm and began to drag her away.

"What? No!" Glenn exclaimed.

"Don't you fuckin' dare!" Daryl roared. He struggled to throw the bald man's hand off of him but was soon met with a hard strike to the back of the head with a gun. Before he blacked out, he watched as Beth screamed and thrashed to return to him, but more so, he watched as the monstrous leader giggled.

…

"Be thankful, love," The man soothed her and she stared down horrified at an unconscious Daryl. "We weren't going to hurt any of your friends. Just take a few souvenirs." He said it like it was nothing. Like they were talking over pizza and he wasn't gripping her like a prisoner. A few of his men were laughing along with him, which made Beth assume two things: that they were all equally psychotic, and things like this happened all the time.

"W-what do you mean? 'Souvenirs'?" she stuttered. He only continued to smile. Her legs were shaking so badly she thought she would collapse, but a voice in her head coached her, saying, _Be strong, Bethy. Don't let them see you scared. That's what they want. Don't give 'em what they want._ She couldn't decide if the voice was Daryl's or Maggie's.

"Sam! Billy!" he called to two other followers that stood by the line of her family. "Grab that cute one." He pointed to Tara, who in turn gasped and began to panic.

"Don't touch her!" Glenn begged. The intruders ignored him. She struggled as one of them tried to pull her up to her feet. When they tried to push her toward Beth and the mystery man, she feebly dug her heels into the dirt, as if it could slow her capture. The boss man waved off in the direction of Eugene's slumped form, as well. "And uh… let's go with the guy with the bloody nose and the stupid haircut. Might get somethin' fun outta him." Eugene was weak. He had no choice but to let them drag him away.

"No! Let go of them!" Glenn was yelling. "Beth! Tar-" A sharp pain washed over his skull and he fell down beside Daryl. It wasn't enough to knock him out but he could feel his blood seeping through his hair and a headache building. He watched as the huge group wander into the woods, followed by the sound of an engine coming to life and speeding away.

Rick was wriggling with the zip-ties behind his back. Rolling onto his back to get his hands in front of him, he lifted them over his head and brought them down sharply against his chest, snapping the plastic open. The vicious group that had taken their weapons off them had left them behind for some reason, but no one was going to question it just yet. Rick snatched a random knife from the pile and went over to cut his family lose.

"What the hell was that?!" Tyreese bellowed, rubbing his sore wrists.

"They didn't rob us or kill us, they just… took Beth, Tara, and Eugene. Why?" Rick's mind was spinning. This new threat… they must have been the ones following them, marking their paths, listening in on their conversations. Oh God, they had watched them sleep. Even with people on watch every night, every hour, they still had gone undetected. Dammit, they had fucked up big time. And now they were separated again.

"R-Rick…" Glenn's voice crackled from the ground a few feet away. The once-sheriff freed him and Daryl, who was still out cold. "We have to…save them…"

"We will," he said. _Just gotta find them._

…

Someone ripped the black bag off of Beth's head, blinding her with the light it had obstructed since they had taken her from her people. When they had been out of sight, they cuffed her and her two companions, put bags over their heads and loaded them into a tall vehicle. Beth guessed it was a Jeep by the way she had to climb up into it, and the smell of the leather. (Daryl had taught her many things when they were together.) The ride was long, and when they killed the engine, they lead her inside somewhere big. Their footsteps echoed above their heads. Beth guessed that it was something like a warehouse with the way the door clanked metallically. They took her down a flight of stairs, where the smell of mold became overpowering. Finally they sat her down in a damp wooden chair, along with her other two friends, who she could hear struggling against their bonds.

When her eyes finally adjusted to the light, she realized that it was a single light bulb handing from a low ceiling. The group's leader stood over her, as if watching her reaction to being revealed their location. Beth looked over to her left where Eugene and Tara sat. Eugene was slouched in his chair, while Tara seemed to be trying to hide her heavy breathing. Beth took her chance to be strong and calm, so as to avoid their captor getting aggravated and taking it out on either of them. She kept her face straight as the man regarded them.

"Well," the boss suddenly clapped loudly, making Eugene jump. "Introductions! My name is Negan. I run the place here." He smiled almost excitedly. "And who are you three?" He look at Eugene expectantly, who didn't seem to have enough energy to even say his own name. So Beth answered for all of them.

"That's Eugene, Tara, and I'm Beth," she said. "Mr, Negan?" _That's it, Beth. Kiss up to him, get on his good side. Protect yourself. Protect the family._ "May I ask a question?"

"So polite! What's your question?"

"The light. You have power," she asked smoothly, looking up at the light bulb.

"We have a generator. Use it when we need it," he answered. "Which is not much, but sometimes it's nice to have some light when we have guests."

"You have guests often?"

"Not often." His quick answers made her think he was telling the truth, but there was something off about the man and the words coming out of his mouth. It sent a nervous tremor through her gut that made her want to bolt up and run away. The fear began to crawl up her spine, so she imagined that Daryl was standing behind her with his big, warm hands on her shoulders, keeping her safe. "Only when we get bored."

Suddenly, the heat drained from her body and the dread hit her like a bullet. Her mask of indifference fell away and the icy hand of fear gripped her neck tightly. They weren't just prisoners. They were toys.

…

**Ooo, cliffhanger! Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this very late chapter. Lots of different emotions in this one. Lots of activity. I did my best with this one, since a lot of this chapter was out of my typical comfort zone, but I tried my best to make it work and make sense. Let me know what you think!**

**Thanks and Happy Holidays! x**


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